* US index futures point to higher open
* U.S. economy loses 140k jobs in Dec per non-farm payroll
data
* Europe's STOXX index up 0.4%
* Dollar edges down, gold tumbles, U.S. crude futures rise
* U.S. Treasury 10-year yield ~1.09%
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WALL STREET FUTURES POINT TO OPENING GAINS DESPITE JOB
LOSSES (0907 EST/1407 GMT)
CME e-mini S&P 500 futures are suggesting an opening
gain for the S&P 500 index. This after data showed that
the U.S. economy shed jobs for the first time in eight months in
December as the country buckled under an onslaught of COVID-19
infections, suggesting a significant loss of momentum that could
stall the pandemic recovery.
While economists polled by Reuters had expected the economy
to add jobs, non-farm payrolls decreased by 140,000 jobs last
month, the Labor Department said on Friday.
However, November payrolls were revised up to show 336,000
jobs added instead of 245,000 as previously reported.
While strategists said they were disappointed by the
December number, Steven Ricchiuto, U.S. chief economist at
Mizuho Securities USA LLC in New York suggested that the market
reaction could be tempered by hopes for additional fiscal
stimulus aimed at bolstering the weak economy.
“I don't think you really have a negative equity market
environment on this," he said. "People are going to say the
federal government is going to step up to the plate before the
$2,000 checks are issued and what else they can throw on top of
that in the new Congress to throw additional support behind this
thing is going to be the driving motivation and that's what the
markets is going to bet on today."
Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats were weighing impeaching
U.S. President Donald Trump for an unprecedented second time
after his supporters, inflamed by his false claims of election
fraud, stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Here is your premarket snapshot:
(Sinéad Carew, Herbert Lash)
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