(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stock futures advanced on Friday after a government release showed economy lost 345,000 jobs in May, fewer than economists expected.
At 8:32 am ET, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures climbed 12.60 points to 953.10. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 106 points to 8836. Nasdaq Composite Index futures increased 13.25 points to 1506.25.
A release by Department of Labor on Friday showed U.S. employers slashed 345,000 net jobs in May. Economists were expecting a drop of 520,000 in non-farm payrolls. Unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.4%. Consensus estimates were for jobless rate to increase to 9.2%.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is pushing for a shake-up of
Citigroup Inc's (
NYSE: C) top management, including replacing Chief Executive Vikram Pandit.
Bank of America Corp (
NYSE: BAC) Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis has been asked to testify before a congressional committee over as part of an ongoing investigation into the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.
Meanwhile, media reports suggested that
Apple (
NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs is on track to return from medical leave this month.
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said on Friday that global chip sales are expected to fall 21.3% year-over-year to $195.6 billion in 2009.The SIA expects a rebound in global sales to begin in 2010, with a year-over-year growth of 6.5% to $208.3 billion.
Late on Thursday, clothing and apparel maker
Guess Inc. (
NYSE: GES) reported that net earnings first quarter net income declined 32% to $32.5 million, or 35 cents a share from $47.8 million, or 50 cents a share, in the prior year quarter. Revenue decreased 9.8% to $441.2 million.
Shares of mining giant
Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) surged up in European trade after it scrapped a planned $19.5 billion investment deal with China's Chinalco. The company also said that enter into an iron ore joint venture with rival
BHP Billiton (
NYSE: BHP) and will launch a rights issue to slash its debts.
Merrill Lynch on Friday downgraded shares of chemical
DuPont (
NYSE: DD) to underperform from neutral.
On the economic front, consumer credit data for the month of April is due for release at 14:00 am ET.
European stocks climbed in afternoon trade. At 12:58 pm London time, the UK FTSE increased 68.55 points or 1.56% to 4,455.49. The German DAX and French CAC gained 0.52% and 1.08% respectively.
Asian stocks finished higher. The Nikkei 225 rose 99.05 points or 1.02% to 9,768.01. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong advanced 176.76 points or 0.96% to 18,679.53.
NYMEX Crude oil for July delivery declined as much as 51 cents or 0.7% to $68.30 a barrel in electronic trading.
Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.
