Wall Street likely to open mild on back of weak jobs data and global slowdown

Wall Street was set to open sharply lower on Friday after data showed U.S. job growth almost stalled in February, adding to global growth worries sparked by weak China export data and weakness in eurozone. The U.S. economy created only 20,000 jobs in February, compared with expectations of nonfarm payrolls rising by 180,000 jobs last month, according to economists polled by Reuters. "The poor number indicates that we are suffering alongside the rest of the global economy and that it is having an impact on the U.S.," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.

"The U.S. has been the best house in a lousy neighborhood and maybe that is changing." While job growth was the weakest since September 2017, other details of the closely followed employment report were strong. The unemployment rate fell back to below 4 per cent and annual wage growth was the best since 2009.

Meanwhile, China's exports in February tumbled 20.7 per cent from a year earlier, the most in three years, compared to a 4.8 per cent drop expected by economists polled by Reuters. Chinese imports also fell for a third straight month, which stirred talk of a "trade recession", despite a spate of support measures.

The weak China trade data overnight follows cut in growth forecasts by the European Central Bank, which unveiled a new round of stimulus. "It shows that the tariffs on China are working and that bolsters Trump's case, but China at the margin is one of the biggest players in global economy and it is struggling and is one of the keys of a slowing global growth," Nolte said.

Adding to investor nerves was a comment from U.S. ambassador to China that the two sides have yet to set a date for a summit to resolve their trade dispute as neither side feels an agreement is imminent, the Wall Street Journal reported. Tariff sensitive Boeing Co fell 1.4 per cent before the bell and Caterpillar Inc edged 1.7 per cent lower, while chipmakers, which derive a large chunk of their revenue from China, also dropped.

Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Micron Technology Inc fell about 2.5 per cent each. The heavyweight FAANG group of stocks were also among early losers, with Facebook Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Netflix Inc and Alphabet Inc down between 1 per cent and 2 per cent.

At 8:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 195 points, or 0.77 per cent. S&P 500 e-minis were down 20 points, or 0.73 per cent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 63.75 points, or 0.91 per cent. Wall Street's main indexes are eyeing their fifth day of declines and are on pace for their steepest weekly fall in at least two months after starting the year on a strong note.

The S&P 500 closed below a closely watched 200-day moving average level in the previous session for the first time in about a month. In corporate news, Costco Wholesale Corp jumped 4.6 per cent after the warehouse club operator's quarterly profit trumped estimates as margin pressures eased. Oil majors ExxonMobil Corp fell 1.7 per cent and Chevron Corp 1.4 per cent after Norway's trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund said it would drop oil and gas companies from its benchmark index and investment universe.