Five things you need to know before the market opens on Thursday April 6:
1. -- Stock Futures Mixed Heading Into Easter Holiday Lull
U.S. equity futures were mixed in pre-market trading, while Treasury yields extended their recent run of declines and the dollar steadied against its global peers, as investors adopted a defensive tone heading into the final trading day before the long Easter weekend.
With many market participants also observing the first days of Passover, trading volumes are likely to be muted Thursday following a week of volatile trading that has put extra emphasis on Friday's non-farm payroll report in terms of the Federal Reserve's future rate path.
A series of weaker-than-expected data releases this week, including ADP's national employment report and a twin set of ISM activity surveys, has accelerated concerns over a near-term recession in the world's biggest economy and sparked the longest stretch of Treasury yield declines in nearly two years.
Benchmark 10-year note yields, in fact, touched a fresh six-month low of 3.272% in overnight trading, extending their slide to a seventh consecutive session, amid growth concerns linked to a slump in services activity and muted employment gains.
Rate-sensitive 2-year note yields, meanwhile, were pegged at 3.746% in Asia and European trading, with the U.S. dollar index holding at a two-month low of 101.916 against its global peers, ahead of weekly jobless claims data at 8:30 am Eastern time and tomorrow's March non-farm payroll report.
The CME Group's FedWatch, meanwhile, is indicating a 58.8% chance that the Fed will hold the Fed Funds rate steady at between 4.75% and 5% next month in Washington, with bets on a July rate cut rising to 56%.
Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contacts tied to the S&P 500 are priced for a modest 6 point opening bell dip and those linked to Dow Jones Industrial Average are looking at a 17 point gain. Contacts tied to the tech-focused Nasdaq are indicating a 73 point decline.
In Europe, the region-wide Stoxx 600 managed was marked 0.4% higher in early Frankfurt trading while London's FTSE 100 added 0.5%.
Overnight in Asia, the MSCI ex-Japan index was marked 0.41% lower into the close of trading while Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.1% in Tokyo.
2. -- Jobs Data In Focus As Markets See Recession Risks
The U.S. economy likely added around 240,000 new jobs last month, according to Street forecasts ahead of Friday's non-farm payroll report, a tally that would take the first quarter total to just over 1 million.
The red-hot job market, however, has started to show signs of cracking this week, with ADP's national employment report indicating only 142,000 new hires in March and the February JOLTs update showing unfilled positions fell below the 10 million mark for the first time in nearly two years.
That puts extra focus on both Friday's employment report, which is also likely to indicate average hourly earnings rising 0.3% on the month and the headline unemployment rate holding at 3.6%.
Ahead of Friday's data, which comes even as markets are closed for the Good Friday observance, markets will digest weekly jobless claims figures today at 8:30 am Eastern time and the National Federation of Independent Business' jobs report for the month of March.
"The NFIB hiring intentions measure has been the best single leading indicator of private payrolls over the past couple years, doing a much better job than the ISM surveys and the JOLTS numbers," said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroecomics. "Today’s survey data ought to capture at least some of the impact of the banking crisis on small business owners’ confidence, and it surely cannot be good."
3. -- Costco Shares Slide After Muted March Sales Update
Costco Wholesale (COST) shares moved lower in pre-market trading after the bulk discount retailer posted softer-than-expected March sales amid a pullback in discretionary spending from cautious consumers.
Costco said sales for the five weeks ending on April 2 were up 0.5% from last year to $21.71 billion, well shy of the 6.5% pace recorded over the three months ending on February 12. Comparable U.S. sales were up just 0.9%, down from 3.5% in February and the Street consensus forecast of 3% amid a pullback in gas prices .
Last month, CFO Richard Galanti told investors that the group had seen "weakness in what I'll call big ticket discretionary items" heading into the start of the spring. His comments followed a mixed set of second quarter earnings figures, which included stronger-than-expected profits of $3.30 per share but modestly weaker sales of $55.52 billion.
Costco shares were marked 1.9% lower in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of $487.66 each.
4. -- Bed Bath & Beyond Urges Reverse Split Approval To Stave Off Bankruptcy
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) shares jumped higher in pre-market trading as the struggling home retailer urged investors to approve a reverse split proposal that executives said could save the group from bankruptcy.
Bed Bath & Beyond will hold a special shareholders meeting on May 9 to approve plans for a reverse split, in the region of either 1-for 10 or 1-for-20, adding in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that a failure of the proposal would "likely force us to file for bankruptcy."
CEO Sue Gove has attempted to steady the group's balance sheet with a series of capital raising plans after defaulting on a loan to JPMorgan in late February and appointing turnaround expert Holly Etlin as interim CFO shortly afterwards.
Bed Bath & Beyond shares were marked 3.8% higher in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of 35 cents each.
5. -- Google CEO Says Search Engine Will Feature Chat AI
Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) shares moved higher in pre-market trading after CEO Sundar Pichai told the Wall Street Journal that the tech giant plans to add artificial-intelligence features to it eponymous search engine.
Pichai told the paper that Google has been testing an array of new search products for several months -- including the test launch of an AI-based tool called 'Bard' last month -- and is also focused on adding AI features that would support work-related products such as Gmail.
The search engine focus, however, appears to come as a direct rebuttal to Microsoft's (MSFT) plans to include a newer version of ChatGPT, a tool that uses human language to process instructions, in both its Edge internet browser and Bing search engine over the coming months.
Google generated around $43 billion in search-related revenues last quarter, compared to just $3.2 billion for Microsoft. Microsoft, however, said it expects that each point of market share gain it earns from its investment in AI and ChatGPT will translate into an extra $2 billion in revenue.
Google shares were marked 0.6% higher in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of $105.08 each.
