Wall Street closed for Good Friday, but U.S. markets were still taking in the latest labor data before the holiday lull. Early Friday, U.S. futures were trading slightly lower following surprisingly strong March jobs figures released by the federal government.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.3%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 0.2% and Nasdaq futures declined 0.4% as trading continued quietly into Friday morning. In March, employers added 178,000 jobs after a February that saw 133,000 job losses, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.3% from 4.4%. FRED’s vintage value for the unemployment rate (U-3) for April 3, 2026, was 4.3%.
Energy markets were closed Friday, but the prior session’s large oil moves were still shaping investor sentiment. On Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude rose 11.4% to $111.54 a barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped 7.8% to $109.03 per barrel amid fears the Iran war could last longer than expected. The AP story noted that the U.S. relies on the Persian Gulf for only a fraction of its oil imports, but said oil prices are still set in a global market.
The push and pull between markets and geopolitics came into focus after comments attributed to President Donald Trump late Wednesday. Trump vowed that the U.S. will continue to attack Iran and did not provide a clear timetable for ending the conflict. In a separate warning cited in the report, a BMI analysis cited by the AP said a more extended conflict would raise the threat to physical infrastructure, extend disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, and entail a longer postwar recovery period—leading to price impacts spilling later into the year.
The Strait of Hormuz point mattered beyond the U.S. market, the report said. It described how some Asian economies, including Japan, need access to the strait for much of their oil imports or would face alternative routing challenges, and it said some analysts believed those countries were counting on an agreement with Iran to allow fuel transport through the waterway.
Trading was also closed across parts of Europe for the Good Friday holiday. In Asia, markets had mixed movements: Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.3% to finish at 53,123.49, South Korea’s Kospi rose 2.7% to 5,377.30, and the Shanghai Composite fell 1.0% to 3,880.10. Trading was closed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia and India for the holiday.