Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Friday, March 8:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to gains on Wall Street Friday ahead of U.S. monthly jobs figures.

European shares were rising in early trading. Asian stocks ended Friday's session with solid gains. Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 2.6% to 12,283.62, its highest close since September 2008.

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2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. Friday includes the nonfarm payrolls report for February at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Economists said employers added 160,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, up from January's 157,000 count, according to a Reuters survey.

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3. -- U.S. stocks on Thursday finished with gains as the Dow Jones Industrial Average booked a third-consecutive all-time closing high.

The Dow rose 33.25 points, or 0.23%, to close at 14,329.49.

The S&P 500 finished higher by 2.8 points, or 0.18%, at 1,544.26. The Nasdaq added 9.72 points, or 0.3%, to close at 3,232.09.

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4. -- Google's (GOOG) Motorola Mobility hardware unit has begun laying off about 1,200 employees, or more than 10% of its headcount, according to a company email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The new cuts come on top of the 4,000 jobs cut at Motorola Mobility in August as the smartphone maker continues trying to return to profitability, the newspaper noted.

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5. -- Pandora Media's (P) fourth-quarter results beat Wall Street estimates, led by a huge jump in revenue.

The Internet radio company posted Thursday a non-GAAP loss of 4 cents a share on revenue of $125.1 million, up 54% from a year earlier. Advertising revenue climbed 51% year over year to $109 million.

Pandora also announced that Chairman and CEO Joe Kennedy would be stepping down, but would remain CEO until a successor is found.

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6. -- Texas Instruments (TXN) narrowed its first-quarter outlook to the higher end of its prior estimates.

The semiconductor specialist said Thursday it expects first-quarter revenue of $2.8 billion to $2.91 billion, compared with its prior guidance of $2.69 billion to $2.91 billion. Texas Instruments expects earnings of between 28 cents and 32 cents a share; its earlier forecast called for earnings of 24 cents to 32 cents a share.

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7. -- Facebook (FB) announced Thursday several new features to its News Feed, as the social networking giant tries to remove the clutter and potentially generate even more revenue from ads.

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8. -- Fast-food giant McDonald's (MCD) releases same-store sales for February on Friday morning.

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9. -- Private-equity firm KKR (KKR) reached a deal to buy Gardner Denver (GDI), the industrial-pumps manufacturer, for $76 a share, according to a report.

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10. -- Foot Locker (FL) is expected by analysts Friday to post fourth-quarter earnings of 73 cents a share on revenue of $1.69 billion.

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-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



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