NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- The first gain in nonfarm payrolls since July is set to spark a bull run in stocks on Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls rose much more than expected in February, swelling 66,000 while the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent from 5.6 percent the previous month. Economists surveyed by CBS.MarketWatch.com project a gain of 12,000 in nonfarm payrolls and a rise in the unemployment rate to 5.8 percent from 5.6 percent.
June S&P 500 futures piled on 8.50 points, or 0.7 percent, and were trading around 10.00 points ahead of fair value, according to HL Camp & Co. figures. And Nasdaq futures shot up 19.50 points, or 1.3 percent, and were trading roughly 23.30 points above fair value.
While the broad market will show ebullience on the data, the biotech sector will remain under pressure after Thursday's losses.
Behemoth Biogen (NasdaqNM: BGEN - news) slid 12 percent in pre-open action after its Swiss rival Serono announced that it received approval from the Food & Drug Administration to sell its multiple sclerosis drug Rebif in the U.S.
Serono's (NYSE: SRA - news) drug competes directly with Biogen's Avonex. The company saw its shares climb 12 percent in Europe. In the meantime, Biogen said it was well prepared for the arrival of Serono's Rebif, adding it was confident Avonex would maintain its established position as the leading MS therapy in the U.S.
In the tech sector, two bellwethers traded mixed after giving investors midquarter updates late Thursday. Intel (NasdaqNM: INTC - news) traded off 23 cents to $32.75 in the pre-open after announcing late Thursday that it expects first-quarter sales of $6.6 billion to $6.9 billion compared with its previous range of $6.4 billion to $7 billion. Shares closed up 0.1 percent.
And Sun Microsystems (NasdaqNM: SUNW - news) climbed 29 cents to $9.12 after reaffirming late Thursday its third-quarter outlook and saying that it was confident it would return to profitability in the last quarter of the year.
On the fund flow front, all equity funds saw inflows of $3.2 billion in the week ending March 6 compared with inflows of $8.6 billion in the prior week. And equity funds that invest primarily in U.S. stocks had inflows of $3.7 billion compared with inflows of $6.5 billion the prior week while bond funds got inflows of $1.4 billion compared with inflows of $100 million the prior week.
Treasurys get seventh day of losses
Government bonds remained lower for a seventh straight session, with long yields hovering at two-month highs.
The 10-year Treasury note was down 13/32 to yield 5.28 percent while the 30-year government bond erased 12/32 to yield 5.68 percent.
In the currency sector, the dollar stabilized after Thursday's mauling, gaining 0.2 percent to 128.03 yen while the euro erased 0.2 percent to 87.94 cents.
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