Easing Interest Rate Concerns May Lead To Initial Strength On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Friday, regaining ground after moving mostly lower over the two previous sessions. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.5 percent.

The futures reached new highs for the day following the release of the Labor Department's closely watched report on employment in the month of July.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment fell by 23,000 jobs in July after rising by a downwardly revised 20,000 jobs in June.

Economists had expected employment to climb by 88,000 jobs compared to the addition of 57,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

While the report points to some weakness in the labor market, the data has also eased concerns about the possibility of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates next month.

Treasury yields have moved sharply lower in reaction to the report, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note tumbling by more than 1.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the report also said the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1 percent in July from 4.2 percent in June. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.

Following the lackluster performance seen for much of Wednesday's session, stocks continued to experience choppy trading on Thursday. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 spent most of the day lingering near the unchanged line, although the narrower Dow showed a more notable move to the downside.

The major averages all finished the day in negative territory. While the Dow slumped 464.02 points or 0.9 percent to 53,885.10, the S&P 500 dipped 13.59 points or 0.2 percent to 7,709.96 and the Nasdaq edged down 15.09 points or 0.1 percent to 26,348.35.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Friday. South Korea's Kospi slid by 0.6 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.8 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are falling $0.29 to $77 a barrel after surging $2.07 to $77.29 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after slipping $5.60 to $4,299.60 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are spiking $119.80 to $4,419.40 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 157.25 yen versus the 158.42 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1577 compared to yesterday's $1.1536.