Futures little changed ahead of payrolls report

[February 06, 2015] By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Friday ahead of the monthly payrolls report, with the S&P 500 on track for its best week out of seven as investors digested the latest batch of earnings.

* Investors will look to the January employment report for signs of strength in the labor market and possible indications on the timing of a rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to show an increase of 234,000 last month after advancing by 252,000 in December, according to a Reuters survey of economists.

* Twitter jumped 9.3 percent to $45.10 before the opening bell after it beat Wall Street's profit and revenue targets in the fourth quarter.

* LinkedIn surged 10.8 percent to $263.61 after the corporate networking site reported a higher-than-expected 44 percent jump in quarterly revenue as more businesses used its services to assess candidates for employment.

* But action camera maker GoPro Inc  tumbled 11.6 percent to $48.05 after it forecast a current-quarter profit that could miss Wall Street expectations and said its chief operating officer was resigning.

* According to Thomson Reuters data, of 306 companies that have reported quarterly results, 73.5 percent have topped Wall Street expectations, above the 69 beat rate for the past four quarters. The 6.4 percent expected growth for the quarter is down from the 11.2 percent growth expected on Oct. 1.

* The S&P 500 is up 3.4 percent for the week, its best weekly performance since mid-December, buoyed by a rebound in oil prices. U.S. crude gained 2.6 percent to $51.82 on Friday while Brent advanced 2.6 percent to $58.05 as fighting in Libya and stronger economic signals from the United States helped futures recover from near-six-year lows.

* European stocks dipped on Friday to just below recent multi-year highs, held back by mixed earnings while Asian shares edged higher as investors looked to the U.S. payrolls report.

Futures snapshot at 7:32 a.m.:

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 3 points, or 0.15 percent, with 63,273 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 5 points, or 0.12 percent, in volume of 12,007 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were up 29 points, or 0.16 percent, with 11,603 contracts changing hands.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.