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U.S. STOCK FUTURES ADD SLIGHTLY TO GAINS, YIELDS FALL, AFTER JOBS DISAPPOINT

U.S. equity index futures have added slightly to gains after the release of the latest data on U.S. employment. E-mini S&P 500 futures ESc1 are now up around 0.5% vs a gain of around 0.4% just before the data came out. The market was already digesting earnings reports after Thursday's close from tech titans Apple AAPL.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O, as well as chip giant Intel INTC.O.

The October non-farm payroll headline jobs number came in at just 12k which was well below the 113k estimate. Of note, the prior headline jobs read for September was revised down to 223k from 254k.

The unemployment rate came in at 4.1% vs a 4.1% estimate, and 4.1% last month.

Wage data, on a month-over-month basis was hotter than expected. On a year-over-year basis, average hourly earnings were in-line with the estimate:

The soft jobs number may be dismissed as effects from recent hurricanes that impacted areas including Florida and North Carolina may have caused distortions. The data was also expected to be negatively impacted by strikes in the aerospace manufacturing industry and at three hotel chains.

According to the CME's FedWatch Tool, the probability that the Fed cuts rates by 25 basis points (bps) at its November 6-7 meeting is now virtually a lock - at about 100% from 93% just before the data was released. The chance that the FOMC cuts 50 bps is now at about 1% from 0%.

Looking out to the December 17-18 FOMC meeting, the FedWatch Tool is still showing a bias for rates to be in the 4.25%-4.50% area vs the current target rate of 4.75%-5.00%. Conviction in that bias has increased and it now stands at 82% vs 71% just before the data.

The U.S. 10-Year Treasury Yield US10YT=RR is now around 4.23%. It was around 4.31% just before the numbers came out. The yield ended Thursday at 4.284%.

Nearly all S&P 500 .SPX sector SPDR ETFs are higher in premarket trade with consumer discretionary XLY.P, up about 2%, posting the biggest rise.

The SPDR S&P regional banking ETF KRE.P is up about 0.8%.

Regarding the jobs data, Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, said:

"The employment situation is opaque. The hurricane effects are hard to quantify, so most people will see these numbers and just ignore them."

Jacobsen added "There were some significant revisions to previous months’ data, which should not be glossed over. The response rates are low and the error bands are large on these reports.""The Fed will likely ignore this release and hopefully just stay the course they laid out in their last summary of economic projections, which would mean a 25 basis point cut in November and another in December."

September construction spending is due at 1000 EDT. The estimate is for 0.0% vs -0.1% last month. The October ISM manufacturing PMI is also coming at 1000 EDT. The estimate for the PMI is 47.6 vs 47.2 last month. Prices paid is forecast to be 48.5 vs 48.3 last month.

Here is a premarket snapshot:

(Terence Gabriel, Chuck Mikolajczak)

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FOR FRIDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

COULD OCTOBER PAYROLLS BE NEGATIVE? - CLICK HERE

EUROPEAN EARNINGS: BETTER BUT STILL MIXED - MORGAN STANLEY - CLICK HERE

UK GILTS: TRUSSED UP? - CLICK HERE

EUROPEAN SHARES BOUNCE, STILL SET FOR WEEKLY FALL - CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES STEADY BEFORE JOBS DATA - CLICK HERE

A NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER... - CLICK HERE

(Terence Gabriel is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)