US stock futures soar as report says employers cut fewer jobs in May than expected

US stock futures soar on fewer job losses

NEW YORK — U.S. stock futures pushed higher Friday as investors cheered a government report that said employers cut fewer jobs than expected last month.

The Labor Department said 345,000 jobs were lost in May, significantly less than the half-million job losses economists had been expecting and the fewest job losses since September.

However, the unemployment rate surged to a slightly higher-than-expected 9.4 percent from 8.9 percent in April, proving that companies are still reluctant to hire back laid off workers.

But investors looked beyond the higher unemployment rate and instead took the slower pace of layoffs for a fourth month in a row as a sign that labor market may be stabilizing.

The impact of the jobs report was evident in other markets, too. Safe-haven assets like gold and government bonds sold off sharply, while oil prices surged briefly above $70 a barrel — a new high for the year. Meanwhile, the dollar, another traditionally safe bet, reversed early gains and declined against other major currencies.

Unemployment has been one of the most closely watched gauges of the economy’s health throughout the recession. Rising job losses affect vast areas of the economy, including consumer spending, retail sales and the housing market.

Ahead of the market’s open, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 97, or 1.1 percent, to 8,827, after being up about 33 points prior to the report. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures jumped 11.60, or 1.2 percent, to 952.10, while Nasdaq 100 index futures gained 10, or 0.7 percent, to 1,503.

Besides jobs, investors also will be keenly focused on the financial sector Friday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is pressing for a management shake-up at Citigroup Inc.

The embattled New York-based bank has already received $45 billion in government rescue funds. Last month, the government determined that it would need to raise an additional $5.5 billion as a buffer against future losses.

Citigroup shares added 9 cents to $3.66 in premarket trading.

Shares of computer maker Apple Inc. rose ahead of the market’s opening following a report that co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January, will return to the company’s helm later this month as expected.

There has been much concern and uncertainty surrounding the health of Jobs, a survivor of pancreatic cancer who said at the start of the year that he was suffering from a treatable hormone imbalance. Apple shares jumped $2.45 to $146.19.

Going in to Friday’s session, both the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq are at highs for the year, and both are showing gains for 2009. The Dow is now down just 26 points for the year.

Stocks have rallied over the past three months as improving economic data and better performance of banks gives investors hope that the recession could end some time this year. While investors have become a bit more cautious in their buying in recent weeks, as rising commodity prices, a sinking dollar and higher interest rates have brought about fears of inflation, analysts argue that the market’s overall projection is up. Still, analysts say it would not be unusual for a fairly significant pullback, considering the major indexes have surged more than 30 percent since early March.

On Thursday, stocks rose for the fifth time in six days as upbeat analyst reports on banks and rising oil prices helped lift financial and energy stocks. Investors were also encouraged by data that showed the number of workers continuing to receive unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped for the first time in 20 weeks.

Bond prices plunged early Friday as investor appetite for risker assets grew. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, jumped to a fresh high for the year of 3.81 percent from 3.71 percent late Thursday.

Oil prices extended their three-month rally, briefly moving above $70 a barrel following the jobs report. Recently, oil rose 45 cents to $69.26 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average gained 1.0 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 2.1 percent, Germany’s DAX index was up 1.7 percent, and France’s CAC-40 added 1.9 percent.