Daily Update

Futures are pointing to a higher open on Wall Street this morning, a reading that may be irrelevant as investors await the November jobs report this morning.

However, if the Dow and the S&P 500 can hold anywhere near their current levels, they will chalk up their biggest weekly percentage gains in more than two years.

The Dow is also on pace for its second biggest weekly point gain on record, trailing only the week that ended 10/31/2008.

That jobs report comes out at 8:30am ET, with economists looking for non-farm payroll growth of 125,000, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 9.0%.

Many economists and investors are already betting on a positive surprise, having raised their estimates above the consensus.

Goldman Sachs, for instance, is now looking for 150,000 additional non-farm jobs.

The earnings calendar is extremely light today, with retailer Big Lots (BIG) the only company of note issuing its quarterly numbers this morning.

H&R Block (HRB) is a stock to watch today, as the nation’s largest tax preparer sees its fiscal second quarter loss widen due to a jump in overhead costs.

Hard drive maker Western Digital (WDC) could see some positive action today as it issues fiscal second quarter guidance above current Street estimates.

We’ll also see if there’s market reaction to the retirement of Thomson Reuters (TRI) chief executive officer Thomas Glocer. He’ll be replaced by chief operating officer James Smith.

Toyota (TM) also makes our watch list, as a judge dismisses non-U.S. claims against Toyota related to the company’s handling of alleged unintended acceleration problems.

A national rail strike that could have severely disrupted holiday season shipping has been averted, as the freight rail industry settles labor disputes with two of its unions and agreed to extend talks with a third.

Without those agreements, a strike could have begun as early as next Tuesday.

In European debt crisis-related news, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is vowing to defend the euro, but says a resolution to the European debt crisis will take years.

Merkel and French President Sarkozy will meet on Monday in Paris to talk about more solutions to the crisis.

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Posted by Stocks Market on Dec 2 2011. Filed under Daily Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry