US Stock Futures Flat as Investors Ready for Jobs Report
New York (Nar 3) US stock futures pointed to a flat open on Thursday, as cautious investors awaited Friday's U.S. jobs report for February. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.01%, S&P 500 futures were unchanged, and Nasdaq futures rose 0.03%.
Wall Street expects the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday to report that 190,000 jobs were added to U.S. payrolls in February. Average hourly wages were expected to gain 0.2%.
On Wednesday, ADP reported 214,000 jobs were created in the private sector in February. The ADP report tends to foreshadow Friday's report from the government.
Friday's jobs report is the last reading on the labor market before the Federal Reserve's March meeting this month. The central bank hiked short-term interest rates back in December for the first time in nearly a decade. Given the spat of markets volatility since the start of the year, the markets are only pricing in a 2% chance of a second rate hike in March.
Ahead of the U.S. jobs report, investors on Thursday will get readings on weekly jobless claims and productivity figures for fourth quarter; both will be released at 8:30 a.m. EST. The ISM Services Index for February is set to be released at 10 a.m.
Oil prices remained largely flat on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate crude trading at $34.68 a barrel. Brent, the international price for oil, dropped slightly to $36.83 a barrel. Investors remained worried about oversupply issues in global commodities markets.
Overseas, the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.2% while China's Shanghai Composite Index added 0.35% and Japan's Nikkei gained 1.3%.
Aubrey McClendon, the deposed CEO of troubled oil and gas explorer Chesapeake Energy (CHK - Get Report) , died in a car accident Wednesday afternoon a day after being indicted by a federal grand jury for bid rigging on oil and gas leases. McClendon was 56 years old. Shares were lower by 1.8%.
Costco Wholesale (COST - Get Report) reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $1.24 a share, missing Wall Street estimates of $1.28. Revenue stood at $28.17 billion, 2.6% higher than the same time last year, but short of the $28.42 Wall Street was looking for. Overhead expenses soared 6% year over year. Shares dropped roughly 2%.
Costco is a holding of Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS portfolio.
Source: TheStreet
