Soggy Open
Stocks are set for a soggy open Friday following a jobs report that showed
absolutely none of the wage pressure that the Fed was so concerned about all
last year. Unemployment ticked upward, reflecting the growing weakness in the
economy, while new jobs showed a sharp spike.
Unemployment rose to 4.2%, which was a tad higher than the 4.1% analysts
expected, and average hourly earnings remained flat, which was significantly
lower than the 0.3% increase analysts had expected.
268,000 new jobs were created, which topped the anticipated 78,000 increase.
The big jump, however, was offset by a sharp downward revision of the December
number.
The Dow futures are down 30 points, and the Nasdaq futures are down 7.5
points.
The S&Ps look to open flat while the yield on the 10-year Treasury is
5.11%.
Friday Movers
Positive comments from Dell
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) chairman Michael Dell are giving the
computer maker a boost in Friday action. Dell closed Thursday at 26 5/8 and is
currently trading up to 27 in pre-market activity.
Trading higher on the Dell lift is Apple
(
AAPL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which has been basing
for several months. Apple closed Thursday at 21 1/8 and is currently trading up
to 21 7/16 in pre-market activity.
Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is also looking at a positive open. After closing Thursday
up 3/4 to 37 3/4, the chip giant is trading up to 38 1/16 in pre-market
activity.
The disaster of the day is Critical Path
(
CPTH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which is investigating
its revenue recognition practices. Critical Path closed Thursday at 10 1/16 and
is currently trading down to 3 7/8 in pre-market activity.