stock futures were flat in overnight trading thursday as investors awaited for fridays jobs report for further clues about the federal reserves path of rate hikes and the state of the economy futures on the dow jones industrial average were little changed sp 500 futures and nasdaq 100 futures were also flat economists expect 258000 jobs were added in july down from 372000 in june according to dow jones unemployment is expected to hold steady at 36 the jobs report is released friday at 830 am et investors will be waiting to see if the labor market can withstand the feds ratehike campaign as well as it did in june said mike loewengart managing director of investment strategy at etrade job growth is expected to slow as the fed continues to hike interest rates to tame surging inflation but its unclear whether that slowing will tip the economy into an official recession many said fridays report is crucial as its one of two the central bank will see before it decides how much to raise rates at its september meeting the sp 500 is up a modest 05 on the week attempting to post a threeweek winning streak the bluechip dow has dipped 04 this week while the techheavy nasdaq composite is outperformer up 27 on the week