Stock futures rose early Friday as investors assessed a new quarter of trading and a troublesome bond market recession indicator.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials leaped 164 points, or 0.5%, to 34,782.
Futures for the S&P 500 advanced 20.25 points, or 0.5%, to 4,551.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index picked up 76.5 points, or 0.5%, to 14,945.25.
All three major averages posted their worst quarter since March 2020. The Dow doffed 4.6% and S&P 500 declined 4.9% during the period, and the NASDAQ dropped more than 9%.
Stocks did stage a late-quarter comeback in March, however, after sharp declines from rising interest rates and inflation marked the first part of the year.
GameStop rallied more than 15% in extended trading after the video game retailer and meme stock announced its intentions for a stock split.
A strong jobs report Friday could give the Fed more confidence to keep its aggressive rate-hiking plan in place this year to stifle inflation without fear of slowing the economy too much.
Economists expect that about 490,000 jobs were added in March, according to the consensus estimate from Dow Jones, following a 678,000 payrolls addition in February. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 3.7% from 3.8%, according to Dow Jones.
Other key indicators to watch out for include the Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index and the construction spending report, both of which will be released at 10 a.m. ET on Friday.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 0.6%, while in Hong Kong, in contrast, the Hang Seng index eked up 0.2%.
Oil prices fell $1.52 to $98.76 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices tumbled $20.80 to $1,933.20 U.S.