Futures jump on jobs report
Stocks set for strong open as investors welcome drop in unemployment rate, stronger-than-expected jobs report.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks futures pointed to a very positive open early Friday, after a government report painted an unexpected upbeat picture of the labor market.
With less than an hour before the market open, S&P and Nasdaq futures were both in positive territory, with a comparison to fair value pointing to a slightly lower start for Wall Street.
According to the Labor Department, there was a net loss of 20,000 jobs in April, less than the revised loss of 81,000 jobs in the March and lower than the net loss of 75,000 jobs forecast by economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
As a result, the unemployment rate dropped to 5% from 5.1% in the March report.
The other economic reading coming out Friday is the government reading on factory orders for March, due at 10 a.m. Economists forecast those orders posted a 0.2% gain after a 1.3% drop in February.
Despite early worries about the economy and labor markets, stocks kicked off the new month with strong gains Thursday. The Dow closed above 13,000 for the first time in almost four months, lifted by hopes that the worst of the credit crisis is over.
Another thing that could help stocks is oil prices, which remain well below their record high near $120 a barrel set earlier this week. A barrel of U.S. crude was up 54 cents to $113.06 in early trading after falling sharply the previous day.
Techs could come under pressure after Sun Microsystems (JAVA, Fortune 500) reported an unexpected quarterly loss and said it plans to cut up to 2,500 jobs. The company's shares plunged 15% in after-hours trading.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) is leaning toward a hostile bid for Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500), according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which said a decision could be announced Friday. But the paper also reported that Yahoo could announce an agreement to carry search advertisements from Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) within a week, a move that could help bolster its efforts to fight off the hostile bid.
In a sign of further problems in the financial sector, insurer MetLife (MET, Fortune 500) announced its earnings fell 37% in the first quarter as turbulent markets and the plummeting dollar pummeled the insurer's investment portfolio. Shares of one of the nation's most widely-held stocks fell 1.3% in after-hours trading.
Among companies set to report results ahead of the bell Friday are Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500), the nation's No. 2 oil company, and media conglomerate Viacom (VIA.B).
In global trade, Asian markets followed Wall Street higher. European stocks also rose in midday trading. 
