NEW YORK (AP) -- Stock futures were little changed Friday ahead of a government report that is forecast to show the nation's payrolls shrank again in April.
The Labor Department's report is closely watched by economists to gauge if the U.S. is inching closer toward a recession. Analysts expect that the unemployment rate rose to 5.2 percent in April from 5.1 percent last month, and that payrolls shrank by 70,000 compared with a loss of 80,000 in March.
This would mark the fourth straight month of job losses as businesses are cutting back to better cope with the sagging economy. General Motors Corp., Black & Decker Corp., and Johnson & Johnson all announced plans to cut staff just this past week.
Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 7, or less then 0.1 percent, to 13,008. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures were up 0.50, or 0.04 percent, at 1,412.10, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 1.50, or 0.08 percent, to 1,984.75.
Wall Street rallied Thursday as investors viewed the rising dollar and falling oil prices as promising signs for the economy. The Dow Jones industrials soared nearly 190 points to close above 13,000 for the first time since Jan. 3.
Bond prices were unchanged in overnight trading. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was flat at 3.77 percent. Treasury prices plunged Thursday amid a run-up in stocks.
Oil prices edged higher after a big retreat on Friday fueled by a strengthening dollar. Light, sweet crude rose 53 cents to $113.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In corporate news, Sun Microsystems Inc. shares are expected to slide after the company stunned investors late Thursday by reporting a loss for the third quarter. The server and software maker blamed the loss on sagging sales to U.S. consumer-oriented companies that are delaying big-ticket spending.
Microsoft Corp. may go hostile in its bid for Yahoo Inc. as soon as Friday, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The world's largest software is expected to announce it will go straight to Yahoo's shareholders to try and buy the company.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 2.05 percent. In morning trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.06 percent, Germany's DAX index added 1.20 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 1.08 percent.
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