US Stock Futures Advance After Job Reports, RIMM In Spotlight
(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)
US stock futures gained on Friday after a government release showed US economy lost fewer jobs than feared.
At 8:31 am ET, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures rose 5.20 points to 840.70. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 42 points to 8000. Nasdaq Composite Index futures increased 11 points to 1312.
A Labor Department release on Friday showed the economy shed 663,000 jobs in March, worse than the 658,000 job losses expected by economists. The unemployment rate jumped to 7.6%, matching consensus estimates.
Late on Thursday, Blackberry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) reported that fourth quarter earnings jumped nearly 26% to $518.3 million, or 90 cents a share, compared to earnings of $412.5 million, or 72 cents a share, in the prior year quarter. Revenue increased 25% to $3.46 billion. Consensus estimates were for earnings of 84 cents a share on revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter.
Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) said that its fiscal second-quarter net loss narrowed to $751 million, or 97 cents a share, compared with a loss of $777 million, or $1.01 a share, in the year ago period. Revenue fell to $993 million from $1.36 billion.
According to technology blog TechCrunch, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is in late stage talks to buy micro-blogging service Twitter.
US stocks rallied on Thursday as investors snapped up shares of industrials and financials afterG20 leaders agreed on a deal to inject a trillion dollars into the world economy. Shares also got a boost from better than expected economic data and change in accounting rules.
On the front of economic data, ISM Services index for the month of March is scheduled for release at 10:00 am ET. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be speaking about the Fed's balance sheet later in the day.
European stocks were mixed in afternoon trade. At 13:02 pm London time, the U.K. FTSE slipped 20.57 points or 0.50% to 4,104.40. The German DAX and French CAC increased 1.07% and 0.10% respectively.
Asian stocks finished moderately higher. The Nikkei 225 rose 30.06 points or 0.34% to 8,749.84. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong gained 23.72 points or 0.16% to 14,545.69.
NYMEX crude oil for May delivery climbed as much as $1.26 or 2.4% to $53.90 a barrel.
Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.
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