Following the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report, stocks may move to the upside in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 62 points.
The futures held on to earlier gains after the Labor Department released a report showing stronger than expected job growth in the month of November.
The report said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 228,000 jobs in November after surging up by a revised 244,000 in October.
Economists had expected employment to climb by 200,000 jobs compared to the addition of 261,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate came in at 4.1 percent in November, unchanged from October and in line with economist estimates.
Meanwhile, average hourly employee earnings were up by 2.5 percent year-over-year in November, reflecting an acceleration from 2.4 percent in October but below estimates for 2.7 percent growth.
Positive sentiment may also be generated by news that both the House and the Senate passed a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.
The legislation extends government funding until December 22nd, giving lawmakers time to negotiate a longer-term spending bill.
Shortly after the start of trading, the University of Michigan is scheduled to release its preliminary report on consumer sentiment in the month of December.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index is expected to inch up to 99.9 in December after dipping to 98.5 in November.
The Commerce Department is also due to release its report on wholesale inventories in the month of October. Wholesale inventories are expected to edge down by 0.1 percent.
Stocks saw moderate strength during trading on Thursday following the lackluster performance seen in the previous session. Despite the upward move, the major averages remained below their recent record highs.
The major averages ended the day in positive territory but off their highs of the session. The Dow rose 70.57 points or 0.3 percent to 24,211.48, the Nasdaq advanced 36.47 points or 0.5 percent to 6,812.84 and the S&P 500 climbed 7.71 points or 0.3 percent to 2,636.98.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved higher during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 1.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.2 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has risen by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.8 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 1 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are jumping $0.92 to $57.61 a barrel after climbing $0.73 to $56.69 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after slumping $13 to $1,253.10 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are sliding $6.80 to $1,246.30 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 113.38 yen compared to the 113.09 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1754 compared to yesterday's $1.1773.
by RTT Staff Writer
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