January employment report, finance ministers' meeting to keep investors on their toes Friday.
February 6, 2004: 5:51 AM EST
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The January employment report and the start of the G7 finance ministers meeting in Florida will get investors' attention as the trading week comes to an end Friday.
At 5:45 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a higher start for the major indexes, but they were subject to shift upon the 8:30 a.m. ET release of the employment figures.
The jobs report will be closely watched for signs of an employment rebound. But then so was the December report, and it turned out that only 1,000 jobs were created in the month.
This time around, economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect to see 165,000 jobs created, with the unemployment holding at 5.7 percent. But there are also expected to be a lot of caution flags in the report, no matter how high the number, because of a recalibration of last year's figures and such peculiar circumstances as the lack of December retail hiring throwing off the seasonal factors.
The weak dollar is expected to be a major topic at the weekend meeting of finance ministers from the world's seven strongest economies that begins Friday in Boca Raton, Fla. But market participants don't expect anything in the way of concrete action to strengthen the U.S. currency.
For details of Thursday's session, click above
The dollar was stronger against the yen and euro early Friday.
The Dow Jones industrial average managed a 0.2 percent gain Thursday and takes just a 7-1/2 point gain for the week into the final session. The Nasdaq composite index, a 0.3 percent winner Thursday, has about a 46-1/2 point hole it needs to dig out of if it wants to avoid a third straight losing week (see chart for details).
Asian-Pacific stocks ended mostly higher Friday, although Tokyo's Nikkei index was barely lower. European markets rose in early trading. (Check the latest on world markets)
Treasury prices fell in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield up to 4.17 percent from 4.16 percent late Thursday.
Brent oil futures rallied 25 cents to $29.30 a barrel in London, where gold was lower.
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