M A R K E T .. S N A P S H O T -- Steady open ahead of jobs report
By Julie Rannazzisi, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 7:21 AM ET Feb 2, 2001
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - U.S. shares are heading for a steady open Friday with all eye's on the most important piece of economic news of the month -- the employment report, set for release at 8:30 a.m.
March S&P 500 futures shed 2.50 points, or 0.2 percent, but were trading roughly 0.80 point below fair value, according to HL Camp & Co. Nasdaq futures, meanwhile, slipped 9.50 points, or 0.4 percent.
Non-farm payrolls are expected to have increased by 85,000 in January and the jobless rate is expected to have edged up to 4.1 percent from the prior 4 percent. Average hourly earnings are seen rising 0.3 percent.
Over in the Treasury arena, prices extended gains for a fourth straight session. Expectations of future, aggressive rate cuts has kept the bulls firmly in charge in the fixed-income arena.
In recent trading, the 10-year Treasury note edged up 1/8 to yield ($TNX) 5.07 percent while the 30-year government bond gained 13/32 to yield ($TYX) 5.44 percent.
In other economic news due out Friday, factory orders are seen climbing 0.9 percent. View Economic Preview, economic calendar and forecasts and historical economic data.
In the foreign exchange space, dollar/yen erased 0.4 percent to 115.13 while euro/dollar edged up 0.3 percent to 0.9406. |
