Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a steady open on Friday, as markets were jittery ahead of the release of a highly-anticipated U.S. nonfarm payrolls report later in the day.
Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.05% gain, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.06% rise, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.01% dip.
Market players were looking ahead to an upcoming U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for February, after job growth came in below expectations in December and January.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits fell by 26,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 323,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 349,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 11,000 to 338,000 last week.
Safeway was expected to be active, as shares plummeted 3.60% in after-hour trade after the supermarket operator agreed on Thursday to be acquired by Cerberus’s Albertsons for about $40 a share. The deal will reportedly unite two chains with locations across the U.S.
The auto sector was also likely to be in focus, as Ford Motor, up 0.19% in late trading, awarded Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally $13.8 million in stock for the automaker’s performance last year.
Elsewhere, Twitter was up 0.07% in extended trade, as the microblogging service was said to have paid $36 million to acquire 900 patents from International Business Machines Corp. IBM shares edged up 0.09% after hours.
Sony was slated to be in the spotlight after te company named Shawn Layden president and chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment America, the unit overseeing the U.S. PlayStation game business.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 declined 0.43%, France’s CAC 40 slid 0.32%, Germany's DAX retreated 0.80%, while Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.25%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.19%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped 0.92%.