US Stock Futures Up; Payrolls Data In Focus

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting jobs data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 23 points to 12,689.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 3.10 points to 1,325.80. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 7.75 points to 2,499.25. US stocks closed mostly higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.09% to 12,705.41, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.11% to 1,325.54 and the Nasdaq 100 index surging 0.40% to 2,859.68. The Labor Department will release jobs data at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its non-manufacturing report on business for January at 10 a.m. ET. Aon Corp

is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.96 per share on revenue of $3 billion. Weyerhaeuser Company

is expected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.06 on revenue of $1.59 billion. Tyson Foods Inc

is projected to report its FQ1 earnings at $0.34 per share on sales of $8.29 billion. Clorox Co

is projected to report its FQ2 earnings at $0.69 per share on sales of $1.2 billion. Estee Lauder Companies Inc

is expected to post its FQ2 EPS at $1.01 on revenue of $2.74 billion. Simon Property Group Inc

is projected to post its Q4 EPS at $1.90 on revenue of $1.16 billion. Health Net Inc

is projected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.89 on revenue of $2.78 billion. Beam Inc

is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.67 per share on sales of $691.2 million. Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc

is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.39 per share on revenue of $1.48 billion. Novellus Systems Inc

reported its FQ4 profit at $0.56 per share on revenue of $282.7 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.47 per share on revenue of $278.1 million. NetSuite Inc

reported its Q4 adjusted profit at $0.05 per share on sales of $64.1 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.04 per share on sales of $63 million. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.47%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.39%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.28% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.31%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.4193%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.77% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.30%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.0845% and India's Sensex surged 0.99%. The euro gained 0.22% versus the dollar to trade at $1.3173. The dollar index (DXY) fell 0.21% to 78.82 versus 79.010 in late North American trade Thursday. Crude oil for March delivery climbed $0.67 to $97.03 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. However, April gold futures rose to $1,761 an ounce.