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 Consumers who feel confident in their ability to continue to earn are likely to keep spending, investors reason, and consumer spending is responsible for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
Wall Street expects that nonfarm payrolls will show an increase for August, meaning more jobs were created, but that the unemployment rate will remain steady at 4.6 percent.
Some on Wall Street could be pulling for a weak showing, however, arguing that a drop in employment could offer adequate reason for the Federal Reserve to lower short-term interest rates when it meets Sept. 18. The central bank has left its benchmark federal funds rate unchanged for more than a year as it has sought to hold down inflation. But recent upheavals on Wall Street, including in the credit markets, has stirred concerns of a slowing economy and led investors to expect the rate cut they want.
Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 39, or 0.29 percent, to 13,339. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 5.90, or 0.40 percent, to 1,473.70, and Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 11.75, or 0.59 percent, to 1,992.00.
On Thursday, the Dow rose 57.88, or 0.44 percent, after moving in and out of positive territory. Broader stock indicators also rose as investors digested a batch of mixed economic reports that some saw as making the case for a rate cut.
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 Bonds rose Friday ahead of the jobs report. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, fell to 4.49 percent from 4.51 percent late Thursday.
Light, sweet crude rose 22 cents to $76.52 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.01 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.55 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.63 percent.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.83 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.28 percent, while the often-volatile Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.16 percent.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com/
[Associated Press; by Tim Paradis]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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