Brendan McDermid | Reuters
S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.2% higher. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 27 points, or 0.1%.
Shares of Generac advanced more than 2% in premarket trading after the name was upgraded to outperform at Baird, with the firm saying that the company has a number of “unique” catalysts ahead, including the opportunity presented from commercial and industrial diesel generator sets. That marks its second upgrade in wo days, as Citi upgraded it to buy on Thursday.
Investors are awaiting two key catalysts. First, the Supreme Court could issue a ruling on the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which could have an impact on trade policy and the nation’s fiscal situation.
“There’s a little bit of wait-and-see approach from the companies before they start restocking on what happens to tariffs,” said Wells Fargo chief equity strategist Ohsung Kwon on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” Thursday. “We have the ruling potentially tomorrow. I think after that, the companies might start to restock again, and that’s gonna kickstart the manufacturing cycle.”
Second, the December jobs report will be out at 8:30 a.m. ET, and it’s expected to show modest improvement. Nonfarm payrolls likely grew by 73,000 last month, while the unemployment rate inched down to 4.5%, according to economists polled by Dow Jones.
Separately, investors will watch for developments on Trump’s directive “to his Representatives” to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds, which he claimed will drive rates and monthly payments down.
In regular trading Thursday, investors rotated away from tech stocks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the day lower by 0.4%, dragged down by losses in Nvidia, Palantir and Broadcom. The 30-stock Dow added 270 points, or about 0.6%. The S&P 500 ended the session marginally higher.
Stocks remain on track for a winning week. The S&P 500 is up about 0.9% week to date, while the Dow and Nasdaq have jumped roughly 1.8% and 1.1%, respectively.