U.S. stock market futures were trading higher Friday despite the release of data later today that's expected to show a sharp loss in jobs during September due to Hurricane Katrina.
But with the Bureau of Labor Statistics already admitting there may be an overestimate, observers were uncertain what should be read into the figures.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect, on average, a net loss of 150,000 nonfarm payroll jobs when the data is released at 8:30 a.m. EDT, with losses in the Gulf Coast offsetting normal gains elsewhere.
With markets focused on inflation, a high figure would be bearish for stocks, suggested Dan Bunting, a strategist for Dryden Wealth Management in London.
Charles Dautresme of Standard & Poor's Europe Equity Strategy Team added that pricing concerns will likely linger after the jobs report, which he expects to fall more sharply than consensus forecast.
"The main concern is going to be on the pricing side, where companies are able to pass on price rises instead of cutting costs to avoid being squeezed on margins," he said.
Anais Faraj, a strategist with Nomura Securities, added the numbers "will be the biggest nonevent event of the year." He said traders will try to guess about conditions outside of the Gulf area.
The dollar traded in a tight band versus the euro and the yen after heavy losses on Thursday, while crude-oil futures rose 75 cents at $62.11 a barrel in electronic trading after recent declines.
U.S. stock markets also declined on Thursday, with Dow industrials ended 30 points lower at 10,287, the Nasdaq Composite ending 19 points lower at 2,084 and the S&P 500 losing 4.9 points at 1,191.
Elsewhere on Friday, Reckitt Benckiser on Friday won an auction to buy Boots Group's over-the-counter drugs unit, Boots Healthcare International, for 1.93 billion pounds ($3.42 billion) in cash, topping bids from GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer. The unit makes drugs including Nurofen and Clearsil.
CSG Systems International Inc. said it has an agreed to sell its global software division to Comverse Technology Inc. for approximately $251 million in cash. Comverse said the acquisition, which is expected to close by the end of January 2006, should slightly lift fiscal 2006 pro-forma net income.
Time Warner Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have resumed discussions about forming an alliance of their Internet units, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The companies are exploring ways to combine MSN's search engine technology with AOL's Web content, the report said.
A group of private-equity firms is considering a bid that could top $11 billion for both NTL Inc., the U.K.'s largest cable-television provider, and its smaller rival, Telewest Global Inc., just days after the two companies agreed to merge, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. A group including Blackstone Group, Cinven Group, BC Partners and Permira Advisors has contacted William R. Huff, the U.S. financier who's the biggest shareholder in both companies, the report said. Huff reportedly said it would be "preposterous" to agree to a private equity deal.
Wachovia Securities upgraded consulting firm Accenture Ltd. to outperform from market perform, citing strong fourth-quarter results and the company's bullish tone for fiscal 2006. The broker told clients that management is expecting 2006 operating margin to improve by 40 to 90 basis points based on stable pricing, favorable mix and cost control. Accenture late Thursday reported better earnings and revenue than forecast in the fourth quarter.
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