Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures tick higher amid September jobs miss

US stock futures traded fractionally higher as new payroll data for September showed that the US economy added far fewer jobs than Wall Street had expected. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F), S&P 500 (ES=F) and the Nasdaq-100 (NQ=F) climbed less than 1%.The US added just 29,000 jobs in September, short of economist expectations of 90,000. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%, according to Labor Department data released Friday. Economists had expected it to remain steady at 4.1%.The data could play a role in whether the Fed decides to hike interest rates at its next meeting. Fed officials, in recent days, have argued that the central bank has time to assess inflation data before moving, though they agree that inflation remains too high.The ongoing war in the Middle East, now entering its eighth month, has driven much of the inflationary pressures. President Trump has said he's considering resuming bombing Iran after the midterm elections but has also said he's looking for a resolution of the war at that time. On Thursday, the US reportedly sent an additional aircraft carrier and 10,000 sailors and Marines to the Persian Gulf, Bloomberg reported.Brent crude futures (BZ=F), the global benchmark, dropped to $99 per barrel.