LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. investors stayed cautious in premarket action on Friday, with stock futures wavering around the flat line ahead of key unemployment data that could play a major role in determining the first Federal Reserve rate hike. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJH5, -0.06% slipped 2 points to 18,118, while those for the S&P 500 index SPH5, -0.05% were flat at 2,099.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index NDH5, +0.06% rose 2 points to 4,451.50. The subtle moves mirrored Thursday’s choppy session, when the major benchmarks traded in tight ranges ahead of Friday’s jobs report. Jobs data: Investors and analysts have been waiting for it for weeks — the nonfarm-payrolls report that is released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The data set is always one of the highlights of the month, but the February report will be scrutinized closer than usual after Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen upped the stakes by highlighting the key role of the jobs data in any interest-rate hike decision. The January jobs report showed 257,000 jobs were added to the economy, but economists polled by MarketWatch forecast a drop to 238,000 for February. The unemployment rate is expected to drop to 5.6% from 5.7%. However, with the U.S. economy now spitting out more than 200,000 new jobs every month, the focus has turned to how much workers earn. Economists expect hourly wages to have risen by 0.2% in February. Read: 4 things to watch in the jobs report “This data is likely to confirm whether the dollar continues to push on to fresh 11-year highs, having just on Wednesday broken out beyond the recent highs that had kept its gains capped throughout February,� said Angus Campbell, senior analyst at FxPro in a note. The ICE dollar index DXY, +0.41% was up 0.3% at 96.67 ahead of the data. Also at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, the trade deficit for January is due, followed by consumer-credit numbers at 3 p.m. Bank stress tests: Late Thursday, the Fed said the U.S.’s largest banks are strong enough to whether an economic downturn, with all 31 major institutions assessed in the stress test getting a passing grade. On Wednesday next week, the central bank will release results of its capital planning assessment, which will give banks permission to raise dividends and increase buyback programs. Stocks to Watch: Reporting ahead of the bell, office-supply retailer Staples Inc. SPLS, +2.73% is projected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 30 cents a share, according to a consensus survey by FactSet. Footwear retailer Foot Locker Inc. FL, +0.49% is expected to post fourth-quarter earnings of 91 cents a share. Gap Inc. GPS, -1.33% dropped 1.3% ahead of the open after the clothing retailer late Thursday said its February same-store sales fell 4%, significantly worse than the average 1.3% gain analysts surveyed by Retail Metrics were looking for. Shares of Calithera Biosciences Inc. CALA, +35.24% surged 35% ahead of the bell after the company on Thursday announced an exclusive license agreement with TransTech Pharma to help develop hexokinase II inhibitors, or drugs that disrupt the ability of cancer cells to convert glucose to energy. On a more downbeat note in the biotech space, Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. OREX, -18.23% slumped 19% in premarket action after a report alleging that data from one of its drug trials could be unreliable. Other markets: Oil futures CLJ5, +0.22% inched higher, while metals GCJ5, -0.13% dropped across the board. European stock markets SXXP, +0.23% continued their march higher, after the European Central Bank on Thursday raised its growth forecasts for the eurozone and said it will begin government-bond buying on Monday. In Asia, Japanese stocks climbed to a fresh 15-year high, while stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai closed in the red.

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