Walter Energy in focus after agreeing to buy Western Coal
By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures held steady Friday as investors waited on the sidelines ahead of the closely watched nonfarm payrolls figures for November.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ10 11,369, +6.00, +0.05%) fell 3 points to 11,360.00 and S&P 500 futures (SPZ10 1,222, -0.50, -0.04%) were nearly unchanged at 1,221.90.
Nasdaq 100 futures (NDZ10 2,189, +2.00, +0.09%) were up 1 point at 2,188.
The steady start for futures came after U.S. markets rallied for a second straight day on Thursday, as upbeat reports on retail and pending home sales helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 11,362, +106.63, +0.95%) rise 106.63 points, or 1%.
Friday will serve up plenty more economic data, with November’s nonfarm payrolls figures, due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, likely to drive sentiment.
Analysts polled by MarketWatch are expecting payrolls to rise by about 155,000 in November. That would be a slight improvement on the 151,000 rise in October, but not enough to dent the unemployment rate, which is expected to hold steady at 9.6%. See full story on payrolls predictions.
“The markets are taking a bit of a breather ahead of nonfarm payrolls, [it’s] an excuse for traders to sit on their hands today,” said Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital.
Ladwa said there’s a risk of fairly heavy market losses if the payrolls figures come in much below expectations, because the economy needs another three to four months of payrolls growth at around the 150,000 level to have an impact on the 9.6% unemployment rate.
After markets open, there will be a further round of data, including the ISM non-manufacturing figures for November and factory orders for October.
Crude oil and gold futures edged slightly higher as the dollar weakened.
The euro was up 0.4% at $1.3256, while the dollar fell 0.1% against the yen to ¥83.64.
On the corporate front, coal producer Walter Energy (WLT 102.39, -3.21, -3.04%) agreed to buy Canada’s Western Coal Corp. (CA:WTN 10.30, 0.00, 0.00%) in a cash and stock deal with an enterprise value of around $3.3 billion.
Shares in Walter Energy dropped 2.5% in thin premarket trading.
Shares in Verifone Systems Inc. (PAY 36.76, +0.86, +2.40%) could rise after the company late Thursday forecast fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue ahead of Wall Street expectations.
Retailer Big Lots Inc. (BIG 31.15, +0.06, +0.19%) cut its outlook for the year as it reported earnings of 23 cents a share for the latest quarter — one cent below the consensus forecast.
The group said it now expects to earn between $2.75 and $2.81 a share from continuing operations for the year, having forecast in August that earnings would be between $2.82 and $2.90 a share.
European markets also held fairly steady ahead of the U.S. payrolls figures, while Asian markets closed mostly higher.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,763, -5.01, -0.09%) was down 0.1% in midday trading and Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 0.1%.
