U.S. stock futures turned higher on Friday as a government report that 524,000 jobs were shed last month wasn't quite as bad as the most pessimistic estimates that were in the market. S&P 500 (SPY) futures rose 5.6 points to 912.30 and Nasdaq 100 (QQQQ) futures added 4 points to 1,253.50. Dow industrial (DIA) futures added 38 points. Nonfarm payrolls dropped 524,000 in December, the Labor Department said, in line with consensus economist estimates and not as bad as the nearly 700,000 job loss that payrolls processor ADP had reported on Wednesday. The unemployment rate rose to 7.2%, the highest in 16 years. The dollar recovered some losses vs. the Japanese yen, and the FTSE 100 turned 0.3% higher in London after earlier losses. Oil futures also moved off lows of the day. Of stocks in the spotlight, Palm (PALM) built on Thursday's rally, rising 9% in pre-market trade.

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