S&P 500 futures slightly higher ahead of September jobs report

What’s driving markets

The U.S. jobs report for September is due for release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, with expectations for a 170,000 rise in payrolls and an unemployment rate of 3.7%. It’s the last jobs report before the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate decision due on November 1.

“And since pricing for another rate hike this year has kept oscillating above and below 50% (currently 38% this morning), today’s reading will be important in determining if another hike remains on the table,” said Henry Allen, a strategist at Deutsche Bank.

The stock market has been yanked around this week by labor market data, falling sharply on a report showing a surprise rise in job openings, then rising on a report of slowing private sector payrolls from ADP, and then easing once more after another low reading on weekly jobless benefit claims.

Besides the jobs report, a report in the Wall Street Journal that Exxon Mobil
XOM,
-2.25%
is near a $60 billion deal buy shale oil driller Pioneer Natural Resources
PXD,
-0.17%
may color energy stocks on Friday.

Single stock movers

• Pioneer Natural Resources
  PXD,
  -0.17%
  shares soared by 10% following a report in the Wall Street Journal that Exxon Mobil is closing in on a deal to buy the Texan shale driller for about $60 billion. Exxon Mobil
  XOM,
  -2.25%
  shares fell almost 2%.

• Coca-Cola Co.
  KO,
  -4.83%
  and PepsiCo Inc.
  PEP,
  -5.22%
   slumped after Walmart Inc.’s U.S. chief executive said the new class of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy were causing customers to buy fewer groceries and cut back on those that are high in calories.

• Levi Strauss & Co. LEVI dropped 2% after the retailer late Thursday cut its outlook for the full year and its executives noted a “continued softness in the wholesale channel, primarily in the U.S.”

• Tesla
  TSLA,
  -0.43%
  fell 1% after the automobile maker cut the price of its Model 3 cars from $40,240 to $38,990 and dropped the cost of its model Y electric vehicles from $50,990 to $45,990 in the U.S.

• Philips
  PHG,
  +0.56%
  shares dropped 8% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called for more testing of its recalled sleep and respiratory devices, following concerns about foam used in millions of recalled products.