US Markets

Stock futures mildly higher after June jobs report

U.S. stock-index futures moved modestly higher and benchmark Treasury yields jumped on Thursday after the government reported the economy created a better-than-expected 288,000 jobs in June.

"It was a very good report. The stock market reaction is fairly muted, but the bond market's reaction is a pretty strong one," said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade.

The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent.

Holding steady ahead of the jobs report, the yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped five basis points to 2.675 percent after the data.

The European Union kept monetary policy unchanged as expected on Thursday following last month's measures to stimulate the economy.

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On the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures fell 1.1 percent to $1,316.00 an ounce; crude oil futures declined 47 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $104.01 a barrel.

Released a day earlier due to the July 4 holiday, analysts polled by Dow Jones had forecast employers created 215,000 new jobs in June, after May's 217,000. The unemployment rate was seen unchanged at 6.3 percent.

Employment hopes were boosted on Wednesday after ADP data showed companies added a much-larger-than-expected 281,000 new positions in June. Subsequently, the Dow and eked out minuscule gains to end at records.

Expectations building for a strong US jobs report
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Expectations building for a strong US jobs report

Ahead of the jobs report, a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found U.S. companies planning to cut payrolls by 31,434 in June, after climbing to a 15-month high in May.

The day will be a quiet one for corporate reports, with only International Speedway posting quarterly numbers. Third quarter earnings season unofficially kicks off next week with Alcoa on Tuesday and Wells Fargo on Friday.