US stock futures made gains Thursday morning after the Dow snapped a three-session winning streak, as investors adapted to a stronger-than-expected January jobs report.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) and S&P 500 (ES=F) rose around 0.3% while Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) climbed 0.2%. The muted futures action followed a choppy session on Wall Street, as all of the major indexes ended little changed.

In after-hours trading, Cisco Systems (CSCO) tumbled roughly 7% after missing profit expectations. McDonald’s (MCD) slipped modestly despite topping earnings estimates.

Markets initially climbed following the highly anticipated reveal of the January jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 130,000 last month, trouncing analyst forecasts, even as end-of-year reports for 2025 were revised to show a significantly slower pace of job growth last year.

However, the strength in hiring at the start of the year complicates expectations for Federal Reserve policy. A resilient labor market, paired with sticky inflation, could reduce the likelihood of near-term rate cuts, a key driver behind recent equity gains.

Attention now turns to Friday’s Consumer Price Index report, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation. A softer reading will build hopes that price pressures are easing even as economic growth remains intact.

On the earnings front, Coinbase (COIN), Applied Materials (AMAT), and Rivian (RIVN) are highlights from the reports scheduled before the weekend.

Bloomberg reports:

Gold (GC=F) slipped after robust US jobs data reduced expectations the Federal Reserve will move quickly to cut interest rates.

Bullion retreated as much as 0.6% on Thursday, after adding 1.2% in the previous session. US payrolls rose by the most in more than a year and the unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in January, suggesting the American labor market continued to stabilize at the start of 2026.

The data may reinforce Fed officials’ inclination to keep interest rates on hold for now, with many traders appearing to push out their timeline for the next rate cut to July from June. Lower interest rates are a tailwind for precious metals, which don’t pay interest.

Despite its early losses on Thursday, gold continued to hold above $5,000 an ounce and has clawed back around half of the losses sustained during a historic rout at the turn of the month. The precious metal surged to a record high above $5,595 an ounce in late January before a wave of speculative buying saw the rally get overheated. Bullion then plunged about 13% in two sessions.

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