Futures Extend Gains Amid Mixed Jobs Data

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U.S. stock-index futures climbed deeper into positive territory as traders eyed a key report painting a mixed picture of the labor market.

Today's Markets

As of 8:38 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 51 points, or 0.31%, to 16556, S&P 500 futures advanced 6.5 points, or 0.35%, to 1890 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 15.5 points, or 0.42%, to 3646.

The economic sentiment on Wall Street is slowly shifting. Over the first two months of the year, the conversation revolved around harsh winter weather driving down jobs growth, construction, manufacturing and a slew of other sectors. However, economists are hoping the economy started warming up in March as the weather improved.

The Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs in March, below the 200,000 jobs Wall Street anticipated. Job growth in the previous two months was also revised higher. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7% from the month prior, analysts expected it to fall to 6.6%. The labor force participation rate, which gauges the proportion of the working-age population employed or seeking employment, rose to 63.2%, from 63% in February.

"The US economy continues to create jobs at a good but not great pace that we should be seeing this far into the recovery," Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group, wrote in an e-mail to clients.

"It is good enough however for the Fed to continue its taper, especially again at month end, but not good enough we believe to get the 3%+ GDP growth rate that we all hope for."

Elsewhere, food-delivery service GrubHub is set to make its NYSE debut under the ticker symbol "GRUB."

In commodities, U.S. crude oil futures climbed 81 cents, or 0.81%, to $101.11 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline rose 0.21% to $2918 a gallon. Gold increased $9.30, or 0.72%, to $1,294 a troy ounce.