TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Friday ahead of an update on the U.S. job market that will offer insights into how the economy is faring.

U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices fell.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.5% to 37,730.67, while the Kospi in South Korea jumped 1.5% to 2,812.05.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 23,817.10 and the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% higher, to 3,385.91.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was nearly unchanged at 8,536.40.

India's Sensex gained 0.6%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 5,939.30 for its first drop in four days. After sprinting through May and rallying within a couple good days’ worth of gains of its all-time high, the index at the center of many 401(k) accounts has lost momentum.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3% to 42,319.74, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.8% to 19,298.45.

The U.S. Labor Department is due to report how many more jobs U.S. employers created than destroyed during May. The expectation on Wall Street is for a slowdown in hiring from April.

A resilient job market has been one of the linchpins that’s propped up the U.S. economy, and the worry is that all the uncertainty created by President Donald Trump’s on-and-off tariffs could push businesses to freeze their hiring.

A report on Thursday said more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. The number remains relatively low compared with history, but it still hit its highest level in eight months.

The data came as Procter & Gamble, the giant behind such brands as Pampers diapers and Cascade dish detergent, said it will cut up to 7,000 jobs over the next two years. Its stock fell 1.9%.

The day’s heaviest weight on the market was Tesla, which tumbled 14.3% . It’s lost nearly 30% of its value so far this year as CEO Elon Musk ’s relationship with Trump sours amid a disagreement over the president’s signature bill of tax cuts and spending. In after-hours trading Tesla gained 0.8%.

Brown-Forman, the company behind Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve, dropped 17.9% for its worst day since it began trading in 1972.

Hopes that Trump will lower his tariffs after reaching trade deals with other countries have been among the main reasons the S&P 500 has rallied back so furiously since dropping roughly 20% from its record two months ago. It’s now back within 3.3% of its all-time high.

Trump boosted such hopes Thursday after saying he had “a very good phone call” with China’s leader, Xi Jinping , about trade and that “their respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined.”