Futures Climb on Strong Jobs Data

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U.S. stock-index futures jumped into the green on Friday on a closely-watched report showing the economy added considerably more jobs than expected last month.

Today's Markets

As of 8:34 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 43 points to 13207, S&P 500 futures rose 6 points to 1429 and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 4.9 points to 2690.

Wall Street kicked November off on a high note Thursday, with the broad S&P 500 charging 1.1% higher in its best performance since September 13.

All eyes were on Washington, D.C. Friday where the Labor Department unveiled the latest American jobs figures. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 171,000 in October from September, surpassing the 125,000 expected. The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 7.9% from 7.8%, as expected.

This release comes just days ahead of the tight presidential race that many say will dramatically impact the U.S. economy, Wall Street and a slew of other factors.

There is also a report due later on the day on U.S. factory orders.

Elsewhere, oil prices were in the red. The benchmark contract traded in New York fell 67 cents, or 0.76%, to $86.41 a barrel. Wholesale RBOB gasoline rose 0.49% to $2.647 a gallon.

In metals, gold slumped $19.30, or 1.1%, to $1,696.

Foreign Markets

The Euro Stoxx 50 dipped 0.12% to 2531, the English FTSE 100 fell 0.07% to 5858 and the German DAX edged lower by 0.02% to 7334.

In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 rallied 1.2% to 9051 and the Chinese Hang Seng jumped 1.3% to 22111.