Futures rise as traders try to sort out Thursday’s wild ride; focus on Greek debt, US jobs

Stock futures rise a day after market turbulence

NEW YORK — Stock futures are rising Friday amid signs that trading may be stabilizing after one of the most volatile days in the stock market’s history.

A computerized sell-off, which might have been triggered by a simple typographical error, sent the Dow Jones industrial average down by a record nearly 1,000 points in about 30 minutes Thursday afternoon. The market started to steady itself and regained two-thirds of that loss before the end of trading.

The 348-point, or 3.2 percent, drop on the Dow was the worst day for the index since February 2009 when the market was swooning and headed toward a 12-year low. The Dow has lost 631 points, or 5.7 percent, over the last three days.

It was too early to tell if the rise in futures Friday was an expectable bounce from such a steep drop or a sign that traders were rethinking the week’s heavy selling. But the Treasury market did give some hints of at least a temporary return to more stable trading. Prices fell sharply after Thursday’s big gains, a sign that investors were no longer in need of a safe place for their money. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.46 percent from 3.40 percent late Thursday.

The markets were also preparing for the release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time of the Labor Department’s April jobs report.

The department is expected to say employers added 200,000 jobs in April, according to economists polled by Thomson Reuters. However, as many as 120,000 of those new jobs could be tied to temporary hiring of U.S. census workers.

If the number falls short of the forecast, traders are likely to resume selling. But a good number doesn’t seem likely, given the stock market’s current mood, to trigger a big rebound. Over the past week, traders have focused more on Europe’s debt problems and looked past more signs of strength in the U.S.

The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 9.7 percent, where it’s been since January.

Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 61, or 0.6 percent, to 10,518. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 9.30, or 0.8 percent, to 1,131.70, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 16.75, or 0.9 percent, to 1,902.75.

Stocks were down overseas, but also showing signs of stabilizing. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent, Germany’s DAX index dropped 0.8 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.7 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 3.1 percent; the Tokyo markets were closed before trading began in Europe.

U.S. stocks were already sharply lower Thursday even before the big mid-afternoon plunge. Investors were concerned that a $140 billion bailout for Greece would be unable to stop a spread of debt issues across Europe that could unravel a global economic recovery.

Leaders of the 16 countries that use the euro are meeting in Brussels Friday to complete the Greek rescue plan and determine how to avoid future debt crises. Germany’s parliament is expected to vote on its contribution for the loan package. As the largest country using the euro, Germany is on the hook for the largest portion of the bailout, which is also being funded by the International Monetary Fund.

Greece’s parliament passed an austerity plan Thursday night, despite heavy protesting from citizens throughout the country. It needed to approve the plan to receive the bailout money, a portion of which will be needed to cover debt payments on May 19.

The dollar, which has been rising sharply particularly against the euro, retreated early in the day Friday. Investors had been pouring money into the dollar and pulling out of the euro because of worries that the European common currency could eventually collapse under the weight of the mounting debt problems.

Gold and oil both rose.