Stocks poised for job number boost

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. futures reacted positively to a jobs report showing a gain of 97,000 in February, including an updward revision to January's number.

Nasdaq and S&P futures turned higher after the release of the Labor Department report.

Employers added fewer employees to their payrolls in February as the latest reading on the nation's saw the weakest job growth in two years, but the unemployment rate was trimmed.

There was a 97,000 gain in employment, according to the closely watched report, compared with a revised 146,000 gain in January, which was 35,000 more jobs than the original estimates.

Economists had forecasted weak job growth, with those surveyed by Briefing.com projecting that employers added 100,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate fell 4.5 percent from 4.6 percent in January. The consensus among economists was that the unemployment rate would stay at 4.6 percent, although a bit more than 20 percent of those surveyed by Reuters had been looking for a rise to 4.7 percent. Few had forecast a decline.

Elsewhere, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed more than expected, to $59.1 billion in January on strong exports and declining imports.

At 10 a.m. ET, the government will give the reading on January wholesale inventories.

Overseas markets, which have recently set the pace for U.S. trading, were mixed and relatively quiet as traders also awaited the jobs report.

Stocks in Asia were mixed, with Japan's Nikkei posting a modest gain and Hong Kong's Hang Seng a decline, while indexes in Seoul, Taipai and Shanghai were little changed at the close. Major indexes in Europe were lower in early trading.

Oil turned lower. U.S. light crude eased 7 cents to $61.57 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices tumbled on the jobs news. The U.S. 10-year note yield rose to 4.58 percent from 4.51 percent late Thursday. The dollar was higher against the yen.

In corporate news, New Century Financial (Charts), the No. 2 subprime mortgage lender, a sector that makes loans to borrowers with less than top credit, announced after the close it would stop accepting loan applications because some of the its financial backers have cut off access to financing.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that telecom AT&T (Charts) and Internet bellwhether Yahoo! (Charts) are negotiating potentially sweeping changes that could scale back their partnership, which the paper said could be a blow to the $200 million to $250 million of revenue Yahoo now gets from sales through AT&T. Shares of Yahoo fell 0.8 percent in early Frankfurt trading following the report, while shares of Dow component AT&T slipped 0.5 percent.

Drugstore retailer CVS (Charts) raised its bid for prescription plan manager Caremark (Charts) for a third time late Thursday as it tried to fend off a raised hostile bid Wednesday from Express Scripts (Charts).

Another major shareholder in embattled Japanese broker Nikko Cordial said Friday that Citigroup's (Charts) $10.8 billion offer for the firm isn't high enough. Shares of Dow component Citigroup fell 1.7 percent in early trading in Frankfurt.

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