NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks headed for a modestly lower open Friday after Thursday's big jump as investors awaited the government's May reading on job creation and unemployment.
The Labor Department's monthly data, scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, is expected to show the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.1 percent in May, and that the number of U.S. jobs shrank for the fifth straight month by 60,000.
Wall Street has grown more confident that the U.S. economy is poised for recovery later this year, and that confidence has helped drive the stock market higher. Signs that the job market is worse than expected, however, could derail those hopes. If consumers do not have jobs, they will pare back their discretionary spending more than they already have as they've contended with soaring food and energy prices.
Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 9, or 0.07 percent, to 12,609. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.10, or 0.30 percent, to 1,381.70, and Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 6.50, or 0.32 percent, to 2,027.25.
The stock market soared Thursday, driving the Dow up nearly 214 points for its largest daily point gain since April 18 thanks to better-than-expected sales from retailers and a dip in last week's jobless claims.
The good economic news helped investors shrug off a huge spike in oil prices Thursday. But inflation worries could weigh on the market going forward. In premarket electronic trading, light, sweet crude rose $2.25 to $130.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, adding to a $5.49 a barrel surge on Thursday.
Bond prices moved higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 4.02 percent from 4.04 percent late Wednesday.
The dollar declined against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed up 1.03 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.31 percent in midday trading, Germany's DAX index rose fell 0.10 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.18 percent.
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