* April payrolls miss expectations
* Weekend European elections eyed
* LinkedIn jumps on results, outlook
* Futures off: Dow 48 pts, S&P; 5.7 pts, Nasdaq 9.5 pts
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, May 4 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks were poised for a
lower open on Friday after a weaker-than-expected payrolls
report cast doubt over the strength of the economic recovery.
The Labor Department said employers decreased hiring for the
second straight month, adding 115,000 workers, below forecasts
of 170,000 jobs. The unemployment rate, however, ticked down to
8.1 percent.
Despite the disappointing report, declines in index futures
were muted as investors interpreted the data as increasing the
likelihood of more stimulus measures from the Federal Reserve,
including another round of quantitative easing (QE).
“115,000 (jobs) increased the probability of QE3 and that is
what people are looking for. The drop in the unemployment rate
was actually an unhealthy drop. You had less people looking for
work, which shows a bad sentiment,” said Ron Florance, managing
director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank in
Scottsdale, Arizona.
“There is little you can say about that number that was
good, except for the fact that it might bring in the cavalry of
the Federal Reserve for a third round.”
The S&P; 500 suffered its first monthly decline of the year
in April, and the benchmark index has struggled to convincingly
pierce the key resistance level of 1,400 as investors have
grappled with conflicting economic reports.
The index has found a support level at its 50-day moving
average of 1,386.52, which will likely be tested on Friday.
S&P; 500 futures fell 5.7 points and were below fair
value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account
interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the
contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures dropped 48
points, and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 9.5 points.
Investors may also be leery of placing big bets ahead of
Sunday elections in Europe that could bring new leadership in
France and Greece in a backlash against severe austerity
measures.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index slipped 1.1
percent.
LinkedIn Corp jumped 9.7 percent to $120.06 in
premarket trade after the social networking website raised its
outlook and smashed quarterly revenue and profit expectations.
Of the 391 companies in the S&P; 500 index reporting results,
68.3 percent have exceeded estimates, according to Thomson
Reuters data through Thursday morning.
Est (c)e Lauder Cos Inc dropped 4.1 percent to $61.50 in
premarket after the company reported higher quarterly profit on
Friday but gave a profit outlook disappointed Wall Street.
United Parcel Service Inc approved a new $5 billion
share buyback and increased the amount of cash to about $5
billion to help fund its purchase of Dutch company TNT Express
.
Fruit and fresh vegetable distributor Dole Food Co Inc
said it may spin off one or more units as part of a
strategic business review and reported a lower quarterly
revenue.
