Traders Eye Delayed Jobs Report, Nvidia Earnings, Stifling US Equity Futures Pre-Bell

08:59 AM EST, 11/17/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were flat ahead of Monday's opening bell as traders looked ahead to the long-awaited release of September's jobs report and Nvidia (NVDA) earnings later in the week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.1%, S&P 500 futures were 0.06% lower, and Nasdaq futures were flat.

Oil prices were higher, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 0.4% at $64.67 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 0.7% higher at $60.39 per barrel.

Investors are awaiting the crucial September jobs report, scheduled for release Thursday, for an official snapshot of the country's labor situation, nearly seven weeks behind schedule due to the 43-day federal government shutdown.

Nvidia (NVDA) is scheduled to report quarterly earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday.

The November Empire State Manufacturing Index, released at 8:30 am ET, came in at 18.7, compared with October's 10.7 and estimates compiled by Bloomberg for 5.8.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.1% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.7% lower, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.5% lower. Meanwhile, the UK's FTSE 100 was down 0.3%, and Germany's DAX index was 0.7% lower in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) shares were more than 3% higher pre-bell after Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/A) (BRK.A, BRK.B) disclosed a new $4.3 billion stake in the company. Zymeworks (ZYME) stock was up 34% after the company said that Ziihera plus chemotherapy demonstrated improvement in progression-free survival versus the control arm in a late-stage trial in gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.

On the losing side, Dell Technologies (DELL) shares were 6% lower after Morgan Stanley (MS) downgraded its rating on the stock to underweight from overweight and trimmed its price target to $110 from $144.

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