Futures tracking the NASDAQ jumped more than 1% on Friday as mega-cap growth stocks rallied in premarket trading after a downbeat jobs report eased valuation concerns and worries about the U.S. Federal Reserve reducing its massive stimulus program anytime soon.
The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report showed U.S. employers hired far fewer workers than expected in April, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by only 266,000 jobs last month… Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls advancing by 978,000 jobs. Highly valued stocks such as Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc rose more than 1% each in premarket trading.
The report also showed unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in April from 6.0% in March. At 9:06 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 32 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 13 points, or 0.31%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 154 points, or 1.13%.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully just a blip on U.S. jobs, but despite premarket gains, Apple remains significantly undervalued.