U.S. stocks gave up overnight gains in futures on Friday after White House officials told CNBC there is no imminent trade deal with China, contrary to earlier reports. Disappointing announcements from Apple also weighed on investors, while a strong jobs report increased the fear of interest rates rising further.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose as much as 1.2 percent after a report that President Donald Trump asked U.S. officials to begin drafting a trade agreement with China. The rise in the futures would have been a jump of 304 points for the index from Thursday’s close.
But the Dow ended down 109.91 points Friday after several White House officials told CNBC there was no indication of an agreement with China coming soon. Three senior administration officials told CNBC some progress is being made behind the scenes, but one official cautioned against reading too much into preparations for Trump’s expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of the month.
Apple’s plunge into correction territory — its stock down more than 10 percent from recent highs — weighed on investors. The tech giant’s worse-than-expected guidance and a major change to its quarterly earnings figures surprised investors on Thursday after the closing bell. Apple will no longer report individual unit sales for the iPhone, iPad and Mac, starting next quarter.
U.S. Treasury yields also jumped after the Labor Department reported Friday that the economy is adding jobs at a brisk rate , with wages increasing at the fastest clip since April 2009. The unemployment rate remained low as the U.S. added a higher-than-expected 250,000 jobs in October.
A strong wage number may lead the Federal Reserve to continue to raise interest rates to keep a check on inflation. The Fed has been gradually increasing the cost of borrowing by hiking its benchmark rate. Investor fear regarding a fast climb in rates contributed to steep sell-off in both Dow and the S&P 500 in October.
