NEW YORK, July 3 - U.S. stocks are poised to open lower on Thursday as investors take a cautious stance ahead of the government's closely watched monthly jobs report, the last major economic data before the July 4 holiday. Market players will scrutinize the June jobs figures for further clues about the economy's health. Analysts worry that the longer the job market remains weak, the greater the risk that consumers will curb the spending that so far has underpinned the weak U.S. economy.
Standard & Poor's 500 stock index futures were off 3.6 points at 989.30, while Nasdaq futures were down 5.5 points at 1,243.00. Volume is expected to be light ahead of the Independence Day holiday. Trading is seen as likely to taper off quickly with many market players leaving work early ahead of the long holiday weekend. U.S. stock markets will close early at 1 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Thursday and remain closed on Friday, July 4. The monthly jobs report will be issued at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT). Forecasters are looking for payroll employment in June to be unchanged from May, when payrolls fell 17,000. The U.S unemployment rate is seen ticking up to 6.2 percent from May's 6.1 percent, its highest level since July 1994.
"The most important data will be the monthly jobs data," said Peter Cardillo, chief strategist and director of research at Global Partners Securities Inc. "If it's positive, we could see a continuation of yesterday's rally, but if it's negative, we could see some profit-taking." The Labor Department will also release weekly jobless claims. New applications for jobless benefits for the week ended June 28 are expected to number 410,000, up from 404,000 the previous week. Claims have stalled above the 400,000 mark for the past 19 weeks, indicating reluctance among employers to start hiring before they are convinced an economic upswing is firmly in place.
EARNINGS REPORTS NEXT WEEK
No earnings reports are scheduled for Thursday. But investors are gearing up for corporate America's quarterly earnings season, which kicks off on Monday. Alcoa Inc. and General Electric Co. are among the bellwether names reporting results next week. Anticipation of an economic rebound in the second half has fueled a sharp rally for more than three months. But many analysts are worried the rally has been based more on hopes that a rebound may result from a tax cut and and lower interest rates than on fundamental indicators that a rebound is already occurring. In overseas trading, Japan's stock market finished up slightly after a roller-coaster ride that saw the market's greatest activity in 14 years. The Nikkei <.N225> rose for the third session to close up 0.34 percent at 9,624.80.
In Europe, shares ran out of steam by midday as early gains evaporated amid caution ahead of the U.S. jobs report. The FTSE Eurotop 300 index <.FTEU3> was flat at 847 points, while the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index <.STOXX50E> was down 0.4 percent at 2,411 points. U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, helped by bullish calls made by Merrill Lynch on blue chips Microsoft Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. . The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 101.89 points, or 1.13 percent, to 9,142.84, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 11.4 points, or 1.16 percent, to 993.76. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 38.60 points, or 2.35 percent, at 1,678.73.//