European stock index futures fell early this morning, indicating the Cac, Dax and FTSE will halt weekly gains, as investors awaited a report that may show the U.S. economy added jobs at a slower pace last month. U.S. index futures were little changed which points to a quiet opening on Wall Street ahead of the data as traders play the wait and see game.
The U.S. Labor Department’s monthly U.S. payrolls report due for release at 13:30 GMT in Washington today may show that the world’s biggest economy added 140,000 jobs in January. Employers added 200,000 posts in December.
The S&P future contracts were trading flat this morning at the European opening trading at the 1321 - 1324 range. The Dow Industrials followed the trend trading just below its 30-day moving average at 12663.00. The Nasdaq future contract broke the trend as it is up by almost 100 points this morning behind expectations that Facebook will trade on the exchange when it completes its IPO in May.
European equities started largely unchanged from the previous session, as again traders took to the sidelines ahead of key U.S. employment data which are seen as a barometer of health of the world's largest economy. The biggest movers were the UK equities led by Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Both these stocks were down over 1 percent. The upside trend was led by Italian stocks Generali and Intesa, each gaining over 1% this morning.