Jobs Report Day: Can Payrolls Calm the AI Stock Selloff?

U.S. stocks were mixed on Friday, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 index futures moving in different directions after Thursday’s lower close.

According to the October Employment Situation Summary, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 165,000 in October, while the unemployment rate saw little change at 4.%. Concurrently, average hourly earnings for private nonfarm employees increased by 14 cents, or 0.4%, to $38.00, reflecting a 3.1% rise over the past 12 months.

Asian markets tumbled Friday after a sharp selloff in U.S. technology stocks spread to chipmakers across the region, with South Korea’s KOSPI plunging more than 6% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling around 6%.

President Donald Trump is weighing whether to resume military strikes against Iran, maintain economic pressure, or pursue a negotiated settlement, according to Axios, after Republicans suffered a sweeping midterm election defeat. Trump said he would soon decide on the approach and met with top national security advisers to discuss Iran for the first time since the midterm elections, the report said.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.83%, and the 2-year Treasury bond yielded 4.47%, at the last check. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 69.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates after its December meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE: DIA), which track the S&P 500 index, Nasdaq 100 index and Dow Jones Industrial Average, respectively, were mixed in premarket trading on Friday. The SPY was up 0.33% at $735.42, the QQQ advanced 1.70% to $658.06, and the DIA fell 0.74% to $510.47.