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Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes trimmed earlier losses on Friday as investors braced for the latest monthly jobs report.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials eased 155 points, or 0.7%, early Friday to 21,118.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell 14.5 points, or 0.6%, at 2,502.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite skidded 44 points, on 0.6%, to 7,583.25.
The U.S. Labor Department revealed the stateside claims shot up by 6.6 million in the week of March 27.
IHS Markit PMIs are also set for release at 9:45 a.m. ET.
Both the Dow and S&P 500 remain more than 25% below their respective all-time highs set in February as jitters over the spread of COVID-19 foster volatile trading on Wall Street.
There have been more than 245,000 confirmed infections in the United States and more than 6,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Globally, more than one million cases have been confirmed.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.5 points Friday, while Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index settled 0.2%.
Oil prices jumped $1.61 to $26.93 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid 90 cents to $1,636.80 U.S. an ounce.
