US Stock Futures Point To Positive Open Following Previous Session's Fall And Ahead Of Friday's Unemployment Report, Which Could Influence Federal Reserve’s Next Move

After an upward revision of the third-quarter GDP estimate helped push stocks down on Thursday over fears of an imminent tapering of the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying program, Friday’s markets will keenly watch the unemployment report for further clues to the future of monetary policy.

On Thursday, the second estimate of Q3 GDP was revised up to 3.6 percent from the initial estimate of 2.8 percent, adding to the body of proof that recovery in the world’s largest economy is gaining momentum. This was construed to mean the Fed could begin winding down its monthly $85 billion bond-buying program sooner than later, leading the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500 indexes to their fifth consecutive fall.

On Friday, futures on the DJIA were up 0.21 percent, while futures on the S&P 500 were up 0.35 percent, and those on the Nasdaq Composite Index were up 0.29 percent.

The jobs data report, which will show how the employment situation was in November, will be released at 8:30 a.m. EST. Estimates forecast an addition of 180,000 to the nonfarm payrolls number compared to a 204,000 gain in October and the unemployment rate is expected to slip back to 7.2 percent from last month’s 7.3 percent.

A report on personal income and expenditure for October is also due at 8:30 a.m. EST while a survey on consumer sentiment forecast for December is scheduled for a 9:55 a.m. release.

In Europe, stocks snapped a five-day losing streak and the Stoxx Europe 600 index was trading up 0.27 percent and the FTSE 100 was up 0.29 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 was up 0.52 percent while France's CAC-40 was up 0.28 percent.

In Asia, markets were mixed ahead of the release of U.S. employment data and Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.81 percent while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.23 percent. The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.44 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.13 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI Composite index was down 0.22 percent while India’s BSE Sensex ended the day up 0.18 percent.