Dados para hoje nos EUA: Bulls or bears on the job on Wall Street?

[notiCIas]

Bulls or bears on the job on Wall Street?

Disappointing results from Amazon, uptick in oil, pressure stock futures ahead of January employment report.

February 3, 2006: 6:58 AM EST


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Investors will be watching the January job report for direction to the day's trading.

Stock futures edged higher although a comparison to fair value suggested a lower open for stocks.

The government's job report is expected to show a solid rebound in the labor market in January following a disappointing December. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast that employers added 250,000 jobs last month, up from 108,000 in December.

The unemployment rate is forecast to remain unchanged at 4.9 percent.

The report will be watched especially closely for signals about whether the economy can rebound in the first quarter after growth in the fourth quarter sagged to the slowest pace in three years. (For a look at unemployment state by state, click here).

A number of other economic numbers are due after the market opens Friday: an update on consumer confidence from the University of Michigan, a reading on the service sector, and December factory orders. All three are forecast to weaken.

After the close Thursday, Amazon.com (Research) became the second Internet bellwether to deliver disappointing results, following the earnings miss by Google Tuesday night. Shares of Amazon tumbled 9.5 percent in European trading early Friday.

Stocks also faced pressure from a rebound in oil prices after Thursday's sharp drop on reduced risks of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

The March light crude futures contract rose 35 cents to $65.03 a barrel in electronic trading, while the March contract for Brent crude added 27 cents to $63.15.

A much stronger-than-forecast gain in payrolls or a drop in unemployment could actually be bad news for the markets, feeding recent worries about inflation on signs that the tighter labor market is starting to put upward pressure on wages.

By contrast, a weak job report could lift bond prices and perhaps even stocks as it would renew hopes that the Federal Reserve might be ready to finally pause at its next meeting in March after 14 consecutive interest rate hikes.

Treasury prices edged higher, cutting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.55 percent from 4.56 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar rose against he euro and was little changed the yen.

Major markets in Asia closed mostly lower Friday, on concerns about further interest rate hikes in the United States.

Major European markets turned lower on concerns that reports of a missing Egyptian passenger ship with more than 1,400 people aboard in the Red Sea could be due to a terrorist attack.

In corporate news, Electronics Arts (Research), the No. 1 video game maker, reported sharply reduced earnings that fell short of recently lowered estimates.

The company blamed consumers delaying purchases of new games due to shortages of the Microsoft (Research) Xbox 360 game console during the holidays and anticipation of a new PlayStation 3 from Sony (Research).

ConAgra (Research) said late Thursday it plans to sell its Butterball, Armour meat brands, units which have combined annual sales of $1.9 billion.