us stock index futures were little changed during overnight trading on thursday ahead of fridays key jobs report futures contracts tied to the dow jones industrial average gained 65 points sp 500 futures advanced 02 while nasdaq 100 futures added 03 during regular trading the dow fell 170 points or 047 while the sp declined 01 both are on track for their first negative week in three the nasdaq composite slid 013 for its seventh negative session in the last eight all eyes are on fridays nonfarm payrolls report economists are expecting the economy to have added 422000 jobs in december according to estimates compiled by dow jones the unemployment rate is expected to come in at 41 homebase data points to surging payrolls in december but december figures will not yet capture the impact of the surging omicron variant on employment noted lauren goodwin economist and portfolio strategist at new york life investments us weekly jobless claims totaled 207000 for the week ended jan 1 the labor department said thursday the reading was higher than the expected 195000 but the private sector added 807000 jobs in december adp said wednesday which was significantly higher than the expected 375000 stocks declines over the last two days follow the release of the minutes from the federal reserves december meeting the central bank is ready to dial back its economic help at a faster rate than some had anticipated a shift in fed policy often injects volatility into markets said keith lerner chief market strategist at truist stocks have generally had positive performance during periods where the fed is raising shortterm rates because this is normally paired with a healthy economy the dip in stocks seems a bit overdone added ubs global wealth management in a note to clients the normalization of fed policy shouldnt dent the outlook for corporate profit growth which remains on solid footing due to strong consumer spending rising wages and stilleasy access to capital the yield on the 10year us treasury hit 175 on thursday sharply higher than last weeks 151 level the move higher has hit growthoriented areas of the market since promised future profits start to look less compelling the techheavy nasdaq composite is on track for its worst week since february 2021 as investors rotate out of growth and into value names