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 24
points, or 0.1%, to 17,808, while those for the S&P 500 index
(SPH5) gained 2.1 points, or 0.1%, to 2,057.20. Futures for the
Nasdaq 100 index (NDH5) picked up 3.50 points, or 0.1%, to 4,251.
All indexes were looking at weekly gains in the range of 2.7%-4.2%,
helped by solid gains on Thursday.
Nonfarm frenzy: After a week focused on earnings, deals and
Greece's debt negotiations, attention has 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) reported fourth-quarter
earnings of $1.12 a share, beating a consensus survey by
FactSet.
Madison Square Garden Co.(MSGNV) also beat on fourth-quarter
earnings.
CBOE Holdings Inc. (CBOE) inched 0.9% higher, even as it
reported earnings slightly lower than expectations.
Movers and shakers: Twitter Inc. (TWTR) surged 10% 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.
LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) jumped 9.7%, after the social-networking
company beat expectations for the fourth quarter.
GoPro Inc. (GPRO), on the other hand, slumped 12% premarket
after the maker of wearable video cameras said it sees earnings for
the current quarter below Wall Street expectations and that its
chief operating officer had resigned. Shares initially soared after
the company late Thursday reported that its fourth-quarter profit
had tripled.
Pandora Media Inc. (P) sank 19% ahead of the open. The
music-streaming service late Thursday reported fourth-quarter
results where revenue and the 2015 outlook missed expectations.
Online travel-services provider Expedia Inc. (EXPE) reported a
drop in fourth-quarter earnings late Thursday, sending the shares
8.5% lower ahead of the bell on Friday.
Harris Corp. (HRS) and Exelis Inc. (XLS) said they have entered
into a definitive agreement, where Harris will buy the aerospace
and defense firm in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $23.75 per
share, or an approximately $4.75 billion enterprise value. Shares
of Exelis soared 34% and Harris jumped 7.6% in premarket trade.
Other markets: Oil futures continued to climb, setting the March
crude contract (CLH5) on track for an 6.9% weekly advance. Metals
(GCJ5) were mixed, while the dollar (DXY) fell against most major
currencies.
Markets in Europe were hit by ongoing jitters about Greece's
bailout program, after a Thursday meeting between Finance Minister
Yanis Varoufakis and his German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble
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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