Stock futures were mixed on Friday ahead of the August jobs report, potentially signalling a continuation of Thursday’s equity selloff that rocked Wall Street.

Futures tracking the S&P 500 alternated between gains and losses, rising as much as 0.7% before the increase was wiped out. Nasdaq Composite futures remained in the red, sliding 1% after a 5% slide on Thursday.

Without any obvious catalyst, stock markets saw precipitous losses during Thursday trading. Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 suffered their worst performance in almost three months, with the Dow Jones also seeing a loss of 3.5%.

Tech stocks were most adversely affected as investors booked their gains. Apple’s market valuation fell by a record $180 million, and the remaining members of the “Big Five” – Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook – each falling between 4% and 8%.

Also notable was Tesla’s 9% tumble, its share value having increased by over 400% since the beginning of 2020.

Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, described the selloff as “a well overdue thumping” for the stock markets. “The technical expression is a downward correction in overbought stocks after an intense period of one-way price action higher,” he said.

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Investors are currently awaiting the August jobs report from the US Department of Labour, which is expected to show the creation of 1.4 million jobs during August – down from July’s reported 1.76 million, owing in part to the rolling back of the government’s coronavirus aid and a round of layoff announcements from major companies.