Futures pared gains after the employment report showed fewer jobs were lost in April than previously expected but the prior month's payrolls were revised to show a sharper drop than previously reported and the unemployment rate jumped.
Employers cut 539,000 jobs from nonfarm payrolls last month, fewer than the 590,000 expected, according to a Reuters survey. However, March payrolls were revised to show 699,000 jobs were lost, compared with the 663,000 first reported. The unemployment rate shot up to 8.9 percent, the highest since September 1983.
Still to come: March’s wholesale trade figures are due to be released at 10 am. And Richmond Fed President Jeffery Lacker will speak at 1 pm.
European stocks were broadly higher, thanks in part to rising bank and oil stocks, and Asian indexes closed mostly in the green.
Ten of the 19 banks that underwent the tests were found in need of additional capital by the government’s team and told to raise a total of $74.6 billion to plug the gap. Many of the banks that came up short quickly issued statements detailing how they would find the money.
Bank of America was seen to be the most in need of funds, with a capital shortfall of some $33.9 billion. Citigroup, Wells Fargo, GMAC, Morgan Stanley and Regions Financial were also told to build their cash reserves.
Shares of Bank of America and Citigroup were up around 10 percent in pre-market trading. JP Morgan Chase and American Express shares were around 4 percent higher.
Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley are set to issue billions of dollar’s worth of new stock into the market, and “all eyes will be upon how those stocks react to those two transactions,” Steve Massocca, managing director of Wedbush Morgan, told CNBC.
Oil will remain sharply in focus after the price of a barrel of New York light sweet crude hit a fresh high for the year near $57 during Thursday’s session.
In earnings news, Toyota posted a quarterly loss of $6.9 billion and Royal Bank of Scotland reported a first-quarter loss of $66 million.