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Costco falls after quarterly profit misses expectations

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Feb. non-farm payrolls report due at 8:30 a.m. ET

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Futures up: Dow 0.19%, S&P 500 0.3%, Nasdaq 0.43%

(Updates with analyst comment)

By Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta

March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged up on

Friday, ahead of a key jobs report and comments from Federal

Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, as investors keenly awaited clarity

on the health of the world's largest economy amid turbulence

triggered by tariff uncertainty.

At 07:00 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 79 points, or

0.19%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 17 points, or 0.3%, and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 85.5 points, or 0.43%.

The Labor Department's non-farm payrolls report is likely to

show the economy added 160,000 jobs in February, higher than the

143,000 reported in the previous month.

February unemployment rate is likely to remain unchanged at

4% from January, and could offer comfort to investors navigating

signs of deteriorating consumer and business confidence.

However, recent initiatives to cut government spending could

threaten the job market resilience in the months ahead.

"It's not just Elon Musk's public sector efficiency drive

that's impacting (the job market). Cuts are also being felt in

retail and technology," said Derren Nathan, senior equity

analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"While weaker (jobs) data may support the case for further

Fed rate cuts, job creation remains a key engine of economic

growth."

Among top movers, Broadcom ( AVGO ) rose 11.5% in premarket

trading after the chipmaker assuaged investor worries about

artificial intelligence infrastructure demand with a strong

second-quarter forecast - a day after peer Marvell's ( MRVL )

in-line forecast disappointed investors.

Marvell ( MRVL ) rose 0.9% after Thursday's 20% slide, while Nvidia ( NVDA )

and Micron added 1.4% and 1.7%, respectively.

Equities witnessed their most volatile week this year, with

Wall Street's fear gauge trading near levels not seen

since mid-December, as traders tried to assess President Donald

Trump's fluctuating trade policy. The index was muted on Friday.

In the previous session, the Nasdaq confirmed a 10% drop

from its December all-time high, while the benchmark S&P 500

appeared to have reversed most of its gains since Trump's

election victory.

The indexes, along with the blue-chip Dow are on

track for their biggest weekly drop since September.

Analysts say the concerns are that Trump's tariffs would

push the world's largest economy into a period of high inflation

and slowing growth.

Trump on Thursday offered a four-week reprieve on tariffs he

imposed on imports from Canada and Mexico that fall under a

free-trade pact, but the U.S. is still in a trade war with

China. Additionally, reciprocal trade barriers and other duties

are expected to take effect in the following weeks.

Traders now see the Fed lowering interest rates by at least

75 basis points this year, according to data compiled by LSEG -

more than what they were pricing-in earlier in the year.

Comments from Chair Powell at 12:30 p.m. ET could offer more

clarity on the central bank's policy. His colleagues, including

John Williams, Michelle Bowman and Adriana Kugler, are also

slated to speak later in the day.

Gap beat fourth-quarter sales and profit estimates,

sending shares of the apparel company up 17.9%.

Costco dipped 1.8% after the retailer missed Street

estimates on quarterly profit as merchandise costs increased.