Stocks set for higher open ahead of jobs report

[February 06, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street was set for a higher open Friday as investors hung their hopes on the government's stimulus plan even as they awaited another bleak jobs report.

A day after reporting that initial jobless claims hit a 26-year high, the Labor Department will report on January's payrolls and unemployment rate. The market is predicting a loss of about 524,000 jobs, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters/IFR. It also expects the unemployment rate to have risen to 7.5 percent from December's 7.2 percent.

Jobs are so important to investors because if people are not employed, they are not likely to boost their spending, buy houses or keep up with their debt repayments. And three of the biggest problems facing the economy are dampened consumer spending, the housing market's ongoing slide, and accelerating loan defaults.

The Obama administration is aiming to turn the economy around with a stimulus package for individuals and businesses, plus another rescue plan for the nation's foundering banks. The Senate is expected to vote on the $937 billion stimulus bill Friday. A new plan for the banks is expected to be announced Monday.

Ahead of the market's open, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 12, or 0.15 percent, to 8,006. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 0.40, or 0.05 percent, to 840.90, and Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 6.50, or 0.53 percent, to 1,241.00.

On Thursday, the major indexes soared more than 1 percent as Wall Street looked past troubling economic reports and bargain-hunted among battered retail and technology stocks.

Early Friday, bond prices were mostly higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.88 percent from 2.92 percent late Thursday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.28 percent from 0.26 percent.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies. Gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude fell $1.05 to $40.12 a barrel in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.60 percent. In midday trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.55 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.77 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.43 percent.

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On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/

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[Associated Press; By MADLEN READ]

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