MW: U.S. stock futures off session highs after jobs report
By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to opening gains Friday but were well off early highs as the unemployment rate jumped to 6.5% and 240,000 jobs were lost in October.
S&P 500 futures rose 5.7 points to 910.20 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 18.25 points to 1,259.00. Dow industrial futures rose 66 points.
The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to a 14-year high of 6.5% in October as nearly a quarter million jobs were lost, the Labor Department reported Friday.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell by 240,000 in October following a revised decline of 284,000 in September, which was the largest job loss in seven years.
The October employment report was much worse than expected. Economists thought the jobless rate would rise to 6.3% from 6.1% in September, and expected job losses of around 210,000 in October.
The dollar fell, and oil futures edged up 22 cents to $60.99 a barrel.
Also due out Friday are results from General Motors ) and Ford Motor Co. .
Ford hit the tape first, reporting a $129 million third-quarter loss, or about a $3 billion operating loss from continuing operations. It said it would cut more jobs and said it's looking at selling off more assets and making debt-for-equity swaps.
Sprint Nextel reported a $326 million loss and announced credit facility changes that limit dividend payments.
Elsewhere, Walt Disney fell 3% in pre-open trade after the entertainment giant reported a 13% profit drop on a $91 million bad-debt charge on a payment it was due from Lehman Brothers and the combination of higher expenses and less successful films. The Dow Jones Industrial Average component said bookings at its theme parks and resorts have fallen considerably over the last month.
Yahoo traded 9.5% lower. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in Sydney that Microsoft isn't interested in revisiting an offer for the firm.
Microsoft is competing with Google to be the search service for Verizon Wirelessphones, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Overseas, the Nikkei 225 dropped 3.6% in Tokyo while the FTSE 100 rose 0.6% in London.
U.S. stocks on Thursday thudded lower for a second day as investors braced for the October jobs report. The Dow dropped 443 points, the S&P 500 lost 47 points and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 72 points.
