Stock Futures Up on Job Growth
NEW YORK (
) -- Stock futures turned positive Friday on news that the U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in October.
Futures for the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
were up by 21 points, or 19 points above fair value, at 11,408. Futures for the
S&P 500
were 2 points higher, or 3 points above fair value, at 1221, and
Nasdaq
futures were ahead by 5 points, or 5 points above fair value.
Stocks ended Thursday's session nearly 2% higher despite an uptick in initial jobless claims, as investors focused on the Fed's plan to buy $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities to help support the economy.
The
Bank of Japan
kept overnight interest rates at the zero-to-0.1% level and outlined plans to buy assets with the objective of keeping its recovery on track.
Overseas, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.4% and Japan's Nikkei soared by 2.9%. The FTSE in London shed 0.4% and the DAX in Frankfurt declined by 0.3%.
The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in October after shedding 41,000 in September, according to the Labor Department's non-farm payrolls report. The increase was more than double what economists had been expecting with forecasts for job growth of 60,000, according to Briefing.com.
The October unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6%, as was expected and hourly earnings rose 0.2% from 0.1%, previously. The average workweek ticked up to 34.4 while economists had expected it to hold at 34.2 hours.
At 10 a.m. ET, the National Association of Realtors is expected to report growth of 2.5% in September pending-home sales after August's increase of 4.3%, according to Briefing.com.
Shares of
Starbucks
(SBUX) - Get Report
were gaining 3.9% to $30.91 in premarket trading after the company reported better-than-expected earnings of 37 cents a share and sales of $2.8 billion late Wednesday.
AIG
(AIG) - Get Report
reported a
from continuing operations of $3.97 a share on revenue of $19.1 billion. Adjusted for nonrecurring items, AIG's loss was $1.47 a share. According to Briefing.com, consensus estimates called for a profit of $1.35 a share.
Beazer Homes
(BZH) - Get Report
swung to a fourth-quarter loss on a 20% slump in new orders. The homebuilder reported a wider-than-expected loss from continuing operations of 78 cents a share on sales of $274.8 million. Analysts expected a loss of 46 cents a share on sales of $255.3 million.
HSBC
(HBC)
reported a higher pretax profit in the third quarter but didn't include profit figures in its interim update. The bank said credit continues to improve, with quarterly loan impairment charges hitting their lowest level in early 2007.
W&T Offshore
(WTI) - Get Report
is purchasing interests in six offshore oil fields from
Royal Dutch Shell
(RDS.A)
for $450 million in cash.
In commodity markets, the December crude oil contract lost 16 cents to trade at $86.33 a barrel. Meanwhile, the December gold contract shed 70 cents to $1,382.40 an ounce.
The dollar traded higher against a basket of currencies, with the dollar index up by 0.5%, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury note strengthened 2/32, diluting the yield to 2.484%.
--Written by Melinda Peer in New York
.
Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors and reporters from holding positions in any individual stocks.
