US stocks are poised to rise this afternoon after a surprisingly strong report showed the labour market is catching up with the broader recovery.
The US economy added more than twice the number of jobs expected in October and the jobless rate fell, the government said. The Labor Department also made substantial upward revisions to payrolls for August and September.
The number of workers on US payrolls outside the farm sector soared 126,000 in October, the largest rise since January, after climbing 125,000 in the previous month. The number was far better than analyst expectations for a gain of just 58,000.
The unemployment rate fell to 6 per cent, the lowest since April, from 6.1 per cent in September. That also beat economist expectations for the jobless rate to remain unchanged.
Employment had been the missing ingredient in the economic rebound, and the report boosted equity futures seconds after its release. Futures pared gains minutes later, but still pointed to a higher open.
The December futures rose 2.50 points to 1,060.90 for the Standard & Poor's 500, 4.50 points to 1,452 for the Nasdaq 100, and 33 points to 9,876 for the Dow Jones industrials.