Market Morning: Seeking Jobs Growth
NEW YORK (
) -- Stock futures in the U.S. were slightly higher Friday ahead of the highly anticipated January jobs report from the Labor Department.
European stocks were mostly higher after PMI data from the eurozone pointed to slight expansion in private-sector activity during January.
Asian shares ended mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.5% to close at 8,831.93 but Hong Kong's Hang Seng posted marginal gains.
Stocks finished mixed Thursday in the U.S. as investors weighed optimistic statements from
Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke on the U.S. economy against lackluster earnings results.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
lost 11.1 points, or 0.09%, to end at 12,705. The
S&P 500
rose 1.4 points, or 0.11%, to 1,325. The
Nasdaq
climbed 11.4 points, or 0.4%, to 2,859.
The economic calendar in the U.S. on Friday is dominated by the January jobs report at 8:30 a.m. EST. According to Briefing.com, economists, on average, are looking for nonfarm payrolls to increase by 155,000.
The unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 8.5%, economists predicted.
Other data Friday include factory orders for December and the Institute of Supply Management's services index for January, both to be released at 10 a.m.
Earnings are expected Friday from
Clorox
(CLX) - Get Report
,
Tyson Foods
(TSN) - Get Report
,
Weyerhaeuser
(WY) - Get Report
and
Estee Lauder
(EL) - Get Report
.
The Senate passed a bill Thursday that prevents members of Congress, their top aides and administration officials from using non-public information for insider trading.
The bill, approved 96-3, will be sent to the House, where Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the legislation would be considered next week, according to
The Associated Press
.
President Obama said he's ready to sign a bill known as the STOCK Act, which stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge.
"No one should be able to trade stocks based on nonpublic information gleaned on Capitol Hill," the president said. "So I'm pleased the Senate took bipartisan action to pass the STOCK Act. I urge the House of Representatives to pass this bill, and I will sign it right away."
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel
>To contact the writer of this article, click here:
Joseph Woelfel
>To submit a news tip, send an email to:
.
