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Stocks to Open Up Ahead of Payroll Data

Posted on: Friday, 8 October 2004, 06:00 CDT

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks are seen higher at the open Friday although the release of non-farm payroll data due later will most likely dictate overall sentiment and direction.

Dow Jones futures climbed 27 points recently, while Nasdaq futures were up 6.5 points and S&P futures increased 3.4 points.

In London, the FTSE was up 20.30 points to 4719.00 as investors shake off Wall Street's sharp drop Thursday and await the U.S. payroll data.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 finished down 5.24, or 0.1 percent at 11349.35 ahead of the the U.S. payroll data.

In U.S. corporate news, Alcoa Inc.'s third-quarter earnings were up slightly as sales rose 13 percent, despite the effect of a strike at the Quebec smelter and costs from Hurricane Ivan on its Jamalco refinery.

Select Comfort Corp. lowered its third-quarter guidance due to a charge for an increase to warranty reserves, and reported preliminary third-quarter sales rose 23 percent.

AT&T Corp. will take an $11.4 billion third-quarter charge for asset impairments, while a plan to accelerate its work force cutbacks will result in a further charge of $1.1 billion for restructuring in the period.

For Friday, General Electric Co. is expected to report third-quarter earnings of 38 cents a share before the opening bell Friday.

Conceptus Inc. is expected to report a third-quarter loss of 26 cents a share after the market closes.

The Labor Department is due to release the September jobs report at 8:30 a.m. EDT on Friday. "As with the recent state unemployment claims, overall employment numbers are likely to suffer from the negative effects of the recent hurricanes that have hit Florida and other parts of the southern and eastern U.S.," said Jessica Walker, an economist at Moody's Investors Service in New York.

The Commerce Department is due to release the wholesale inventories report for August at 10:00 a.m. EDT on Friday. Economists look for a 0.7 percent increase in wholesale inventories August.

Stocks fell amid weakness in pharmaceutical companies including Dow Jones Industrial Average members Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, although Abercrombie & Fitch Co. was a strong advancer among retailers that reported same-store sales.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 114.52, or 1.12 percent, to 10125.40, the Nasdaq tumbled 22.51, or 1.14 percent, to 1948.52, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 11.40, or 1 percent, to 1130.65.

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