Peter Nurse   

Investing.com: U.S. stocks open slightly higher on Friday ahead of the important official jobs report, which may cement the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates in March.

The contract rose 20 points or 0.1% at 7AM ET (1200 GMT) and traded 10 points or 0.2% higher. It also climbed 55 point, or 0.4%, to reach 0.4%.

Despite these minor gains the major indices on Wall Street are on course to close the first trading week of the year lower after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting signalled the central bank is considering tightening monetary policy more quickly than previously guided. 

Blue chip fell 170 points (or 0.5%) on Thursday and heads for its first loss in three weeks. The index that includes many growth-sensitive stocks and would suffer from higher interest rates is currently on track for its worst week ever since February 2021.

Friday’s Monthly Report is due to be released at 8:30 am ET (1330 GMT). This comes after Fed policymakers referred to a “very tight job market” and persistent inflation as reasons for early rate increases. 

Payrolls are expected to have risen by 400,000 in December, almost doubling November’s disappointing 210,000 rise, with the seen falling to 4.1% from 4.2%. Inflation implications will also be assessed for other factors, such as wage growth.

GameStop (NYSE :), an investor favourite, will be the focus of corporate news Friday. The Wall Street Journal reports that GameStop, a troubled retailer, wants to create a market for tokens not fungible and to establish partnerships in cryptocurrency.

Oil prices rose on Friday due to worries about global supply. The main reason was unrest in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a member the OPEC+ alliance which gradually adds oil to the market.

TCO, Kazakhstan’s biggest oil producer and a joint venture led by Chevron (NYSE:) Friday’s confirmation that it had altered production in response to unrest and protests within the country was not surprising. However, the company declined further information about the magnitude of the adjustment. Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan’s CSTO alliance said the order was largely back in place after troops arrived from Russia.

Futures were trading 0.7% higher at $80.02 per barrel by 7:01 AM ET. The contract was up 0.8% to $82.62. Prices reached their highest level since November and both contracts saw gains exceeding 6% for the week.

The price also rose 0.2% to $1.792.95/oz and traded 0.1% higher at 1.304