Jobs Report Key in Coming Week

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The key data point next week will come in the form of Friday's employment report, as the market crosses its fingers for a robust signal that the jobs market is bottoming out.

After reaching 10.2% in October, the unemployment rate has eased, and the market is expecting the figure to hold its ground at 10%. There have been signals that employers are easing up on furloughs and layoffs, and hiring temp workers rather than let desks sit empty. Weekly jobless claims have been dropping for the past couple of months and last Thursday's figures were no different, bolstering the bull case for jobs in 2010.

T. Rowe Price economist Alan Levenson also notes that productivity also surged to an 8.1% annual rate in the third quarter. He calls it an "atypically early" gain that is "unsustainable and could lead to ... more robust hiring."

"The biggest numbers coming out next week are the unemployment numbers on Friday," says Beth Larson, principal of Evermay Wealth Management. "In fact, I'm not sure there are even any significant numbers other than that."

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Though perhaps less significant, other data on the docket next week include construction spending and the ISM manufacturing index on Monday; factory orders and auto sales on Tuesday; private jobs reports from ADP and Challenger on Wednesday; and initial jobless claims and crude oil inventories on Thursday. Besides the major Labor Department report on Friday, wholesale inventories and consumer credit data will also be released.

Despite the data trove, David Twibell, president of wealth management for Colorado Capital Bank, doesn't think any of those reports will have a "huge impact, unless there's a really aberrant number."