Stock futures hold on to most of their early gains after latest report on jobs market

Stock futures stay positive after jobs data

NEW YORK — The latest reading on the labor market is giving investors some hope that the economy is healing.

Stock futures held on to most of their early gains after the Labor Department said employers cut a total of 216,000 jobs in August, less than the 276,000 jobs lost in July and better than the 225,000 job losses analysts had been expecting. It was the lowest level of job losses in a year.

The unemployment rate, however, jumped to 9.7 percent — the highest rate since June 1983. Analysts had been expecting the rate to edge up to 9.5 percent after unexpectedly dipping to 9.4 percent in July. Analysts warned that such a trend was not likely to continue. Most economists expect the unemployment rate to top 10 percent by early next year.

Rising unemployment is seen as the economy’s biggest hurdle to recovery. As long as job losses remain high, consumers won’t feel comfortable about spending money, which the economy depends on for growth. Investors who have become more nervous about the economy’s recovery in recent weeks not only want to see job losses continue to slow, but signs that jobs are actually being created.

Following the report, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 21, or 0.2 percent, to 9,351, after being up about 36 points ahead of the data. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 1.80, or 0.2 percent, to 1003.50, while Nasdaq 100 index futures added 4.50, or 0.3 percent, to 1,608.50.