Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures climb as traders look toward Nvidia earnings, jobs report

U.S. stock futures were mostly higher Sunday evening; Investors emerged from a volatile period marked by the end of the government shutdown, the stalling of the tech sector rally and waning hopes for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve ahead of a major update in the US labor market.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) were flat, while contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) and Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) rose 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively.

The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) suffered a volatile setback and ended last week lower as mega-cap tech names like Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Broadcom (AVGO) and Meta (META) lost interest. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Dow (^DJI) managed to finish the week slightly higher, but both fell sharply on Thursday.

A full return to economic data after the end of the lockdown remains uncertain. But investors will get their first official government snapshot of the labor market this week with the release of the long-awaited September employment report on Thursday. The report will provide an overdue picture of the job market in the US; because the more cautious tone of Fed officials last week casts doubt on the central bank’s interest rate move next month.

Next week we’ll see some of the last major announcements of the earnings season, particularly in AI trading. Nvidia (NVDA) will release its blockbuster report on Wednesday, which is always a heavily scrutinized event. Investors will also gain new insight into consumer power with a report from retailers led by Walmart (WMT). Home Depot (HD), Target (TGT), Lowe’s (LOW) and Gap (GAP) will also release reports this week.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD), meanwhile, acts as a health check for the cryptocurrency market overall; The coin fell 30% in just over a month, falling from a record high of over $126,000 to below $94,000. The decline erased year-to-date gains fueled by the Trump administration’s more crypto-friendly stance and suggested investors may be shifting to a risk-averse mindset.