US stocks set for fairly flat start on Friday reflecting caution ahead of the July jobs report

US stocks look set for a fairly flat open on Friday reflecting caution ahead of a July jobs report that will give insights into the pace of the economic rebound from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up less than 0.1%, albeit following a 0.8% jump on Thursday. The broader S&P 500 futures were roughly flat, while technology-focused Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.1%. US job growth is expected to have remained robust in July amid shifts in seasonal employment at schools caused by the pandemic, which could mask some softening in underlying labor market conditions as the boost from fiscal stimulus fades. Non-farm payrolls are forecast to increase by 870,000 in July, with the unemployment rate seen falling to 5.7% from 5.9%, and average hourly earnings are seen rising 0.3% Investors were also weighing up the latest mixed set of quarterly earnings. Ahead of the opening bell in New York, shares of American International Group pushed higher after it swung to a second-quarter profit, aided by gains in its private equity investments. But Beyond Meat’s stock fell after the maker of non-meat products reported a wider quarterly loss, and Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) Group dropped after the travel company posted a second-quarter loss. Four other things to watch on Friday: India's top court on Friday handed Amazon.com Inc a major victory in a dispute where it sought to block its partner Future Group from selling $3.4 billion in assets to rival Reliance Industries. Rupert Murdoch’s media group News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS) returned to profit in the year to the end of June, with the owner of the Wall Street Journal and The Sun seeing revenues rise 4% to US$9.4bn from US$9.0bn the year before, while net income (post-tax profit) was positive at US$389mln compared to a loss the year before of US$1.6bn when the company took write-downs of US$1.7bn. Spaceship company Virgin Galactic said it will open ticket sales for space flights starting at $450,000 a seat, weeks after billionaire founder Richard Branson's high-profile trip to the edge of space. Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Co said activist investor Nelson Peltz would step down from the company's board at the end of his term later this year.