Wall Street on the jobs

Futures cautiously higher ahead of December employment readings as recession jitters abound.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were poised for a modestly positive start Friday, although investors remained cautious ahead of the government's much-anticipated jobs report.
At 6:24 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were narrowly higher, suggesting gains at the start for Wall Street, but that could quickly change at 8:30 a.m. ET when the Labor Department releases its December report.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast the report could should employers added only 70,000 jobs in the month, down from a 94,000 increase in November. Since that's not enough job growth to keep up with increases in the labor pool, economists are also looking for the unemployment rate to rise to 4.8 percent from 4.7 percent, which would be a 17-month high.
But there are some economists who warn the report could come in weaker than expected, perhaps even showing a drop in Americans with jobs, especially since the government collected information from employers during a week when much of the country was hit by severe winter weather.
The report comes amid growing anxiety about the threat of a U.S. recession that has been fueled by surging oil prices. Oil futures reached $100 a barrel for the first time Wednesday and crossed that milestone during the trading session on Thursday, although once again it retreated below that benchmark before the close.
In early electronic trading on Friday, crude prices held steady near $99 a barrel, with a barrel of light sweet crude trading down 19 cents at $98.99 a barrel.
Jitters about the U.S. slowdown hammered stocks in Japan, where the benchmark Nikkei sank 4 percent as traders there returned from an extended holiday. European stocks got off to a positive start.
Stocks to watch Friday include Dow component Boeing (BA, Fortune 500), which reported late Thursday that commercial jet orders soared 35 percent in 2007 to 1,413, supported by demand for its new 787 aircraft, which saw orders more than doubled to 369 from 157 a year earlier.
But Scott Carson, the head of Boeing's commercial aircraft until told in-house publication Boeing Frontiers that he didn't believe the company would be able to have a fourth straight year of orders above 1,000 in 2008, citing the toll higher fuel prices will take on its airline customers.
Home furnishings and housewares retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY, Fortune 500) announced after the close Thursday that current quarter profit would miss Wall Street estimates and forecast sales at its stores open at least a year would be flat in the period. Shares plunged 6.6 percent in after-hours trading following the announcement.
General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) CEO Rick Wagoner said in an online chat Thursday that the company is still pushing to get its ambitious plug-in hybrid vehicle the Volt into production by 2010. But despite what he called "massive resources" being put into development, the company "can't guarantee that at this time," he said.
The Volt is designed to run solely on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery now in development for most trips. GM, which saw 2007 sales fall 6 percent in the face of higher fuel prices, has already started heralding the Volt in advertising campaigns, even though it is not yet available.
Also in the news Friday is Spark Networks (LOV), parent company of the popular dating site JDate.com, which has put itself up for sale, according to a report in the New York Times.