By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
Twitter jumps in premarket
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures moved cautiously
higher on Friday as investors remained wary ahead of the monthly
U.S. jobs report that will be closely watched for any hints on the
first Federal Reserve rate hike.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJH5) rose 13
points, or 0.1%, to 17,797, while those for the S&P 500 index
(SPH5) gained 1.10 points, or 0.1%, to 2,056.20. Futures for the
Nasdaq 100 index (NDH5) picked up 2.50 points, or 0.1%, to
4,250.00. All indexes were looking at weekly gains in the range of
2.6%-4.1%, helped by solid gains on Thursday.
Nonfarm frenzy: After a week focused on Greece's debt
negotiations, deal activity and corporate earnings, on Friday
attention shifted back to economic data, with the top-tier
nonfarm-payrolls report for January due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern
Time.
"This really has the potential to be something of a can of
worms," said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, in a
note.
"Again we find ourselves back to looking for that 'Goldilocks
number' if stocks are to find support in the near term -- anything
too high has the potential to push the Fed into rate hikes sooner
than had been expected, whilst a weak print could be interpreted as
confirmation that the U.S. economic recovery is now stalling," he
said.
Analysts surveyed by MarketWatch expect to see 230,000 new jobs
added to the economy in January, down from 252,000 in December. The
unemployment rate is forecast to drop to 5.5% from in 5.6%
December. Average wages -- another key measure for the Fed -- are
seen rising 0.3%, compared with a drop of 0.2% the previous
month.
Fed speakers: Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, who is a
voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, will speak on
the economy to Southwest Florida Business Leaders at 12:45 p.m.
Eastern Time.
Friday earnings: Moody's Corp. (MCO) is projected to report
fourth-quarter earnings of 95 cents a share, according to a
consensus survey by FactSet.
Madison Square Garden Co.(MSGNV) is forecast to post fiscal
second-quarter earnings of 74 cents a share.
Movers and shakers: Twitter Inc. (TWTR) rallied 8.2% ahead of
the bell after the social-media company late Thursday reported
adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of 12 cents a share on revenue of
$479.1 million, which were ahead of analyst expectations.
GoPro Inc. (GPRO), on the other hand, slumped 13% premarket,
even after the wearable-camera supplier said late Thursday that its
fourth-quarter profit had tripled.
LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) could also move, after the
social-networking company beat expectations for the fourth
quarter.
Online travel-services provider Expedia Inc. (EXPE) reported a
drop in fourth-quarter earnings late Thursday, but its shares were
unchanged ahead of the bell.
Other markets: Oil futures continued to climb, setting the March
crude contract on track for an 8.4% weekly advance. Metals and the
dollar both traded mixed.
Markets in Europe were hit by ongoing jitters about Greece's
bailout program, after a Thursday meeting between Finance Minister
Yanis Varoufakis and German counterpart Wolfgang Schauble showed
the two sides are far from reaching a debt deal. Asian markets
closed mixed.
Read: Greece and Germany can't even agree to disagree
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