TODAY'S MARKETS|MARCH 31, 2011, 8:25 A.M. ET
Futures Mixed; Eyes On Economic Data
By SIMON KENNEDY
U.S. stock futures were mixed Thursday ahead of the first quarter's final trading session, as investors also eyed a packed economic schedule over the next two days.
Just over two hours before the start of trade, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up eight points to 12294, Standard & Poor's 500 index futures were down 0.8 point at 1323.10 and Nasdaq 100 futures were off 1.25 points at 2333.25. Changes in futures don't always accurately predict early market moves after the opening bell.
U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, with the Dow closing up around 72 points at a near six-week high after an encouraging report on private-sector employment.
Economic data will remain in focus for the rest of the week, starting with the latest weekly jobless claims figures at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists are expecting jobless claims to inch down to 380,000 from 382,000 last week.
The jobless figures will be followed later in the session by the Chicago purchasing managers' index for March and figures on factory orders for February.
But the highlight of the economic week will come on Friday with the release of nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate for March. Analysts polled by MarketWatch expect that 185,000 jobs were added in March, while the unemployment rate is seen ticking up to 9% from 8.9%.
The dollar was lower against both the euro and the yen ahead of the data. The euro rose to $1.4205, from $1.4126 late Wednesday, boosted by higher than expected euro-zone inflation data, while the dollar slipped to ¥82.80, from ¥82.90.
On the corporate front, Microsoft. said in a blog post late Wednesday that it is filing a formal complaint against Google with the European Commission as part of the commission's investigation into Google's dominance in the online search market. Among its concerns, Microsoft said Google is restricting rival search engines from properly accessing ouTube for their search results.
Microsoft shares were up 0.2% premarket, as were Google shares.
Also late Wednesday, Berkshire Hathaway said David Sokol has resigned after it came to light that he had bought millions of dollars of Lubrizol Corp. shares before urging Warren Buffett to buy the company. Mr. Sokol had been considered a possible successor to Mr. Buffett. Berkshire's B shares were down 1.7%.
Shares in Mosaic said fiscal third-quarter profit more than doubled, but revenue at the fertilizer company fell short of market expectations. Shares were off 0.8%.
CarMax's fiscal fourth-quarter profit climbed 19% on double-digit gains in sales of used, as well as new and wholesale vehicles. Shares were down 1.6%.
Among international markets, the Stoxx Europe 600 was off 0.6% in early afternoon trading. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed up 0.5%.
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