By Devik Jain

(Reuters) – U.S. Stock Index Futures were largely flat Friday before September Jobs Data that will likely trigger the Federal Reserve withdrawing its support for policy later in the year.

Wall Street rallied Thursday led by technology stocks with megacaps. The U.S. Senate passed legislation temporarily increasing the federal government’s $28.4 Trillion debt limit. This will prevent a historic default.

Investors were concerned about uncertainty surrounding the debt ceiling negotiations, and an increase in U.S. Treasury yields due to high inflation. This week’s volatility was reflected in equity markets.

Still, the better-than expected private job data and the weekly report on unemployment reinforced optimism about an economic recovery. These reports set the stage for three of America’s major indexes to see weekly gains.

At 8:30 AM, the Labor Department will release its closely-watched nonfarm payrolls report. ET will reveal that September’s hiring spiked by 500,000 jobs as COVID-19 infection season ended. This position the Fed in a favorable situation to begin reducing its monthly bond purchases.

Jeffrey Halley of OANDA, senior market analyst, stated that “All roads lead towards non-farm payrolls data, which will determine, in the markets minds, whether or not the Fed taper begins for December.”

I don’t believe the markets have yet priced in the Fed taper or its consequences to a large extent. A weak number will not delay the inevitable by more than a month.

Premarket trading was sluggish for high growth stocks Apple Inc (NASDAQ;), Google-parent Alphabet(NASDAQ:), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ) and Tesla. This is after sharp gains from the previous session.

Energy companies Chevron Corp (NYSE 🙂 Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:) saw a 0.8% increase and 0.8% respectively tracking crude oil prices. Major U.S. banks also increased as the benchmark 10-year yield reached its highest point since June 4. [US/][O/R]

06:29 am. ET were up 45 point, or 0.133%. They were also up 3.25 points or 0.07% and down 2.75 points or 0.02%.