(RTTNews) - The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Friday, with futures turning lower following the release of the jobs report for October, which showed a spike in the jobless rate above the 10% level to a 26-year high. At the same time, job losses, though slowing down from the previous month's pace, did not slowdown by as much as the economists had expected. The report is likely to lead to some selling in the markets following yesterday's sharp rally.

U.S. stocks staged a substantial rally on Thursday, encouraged by positive data related to the job market and productivity. After moving sharply higher at the open and climbing further in early trading, buying interest waned, resulting in a gradual climb in the major averages for the rest of the session. The Dow Industrials rose 203.82 points or 2.08%, moving back above the 10,000 level to settle at 10,006.

The S&P 500 Index rose 20.13 points or 1.92% to 1,067 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 49.8% or 2.42% to 2,105.

All thirty of the Dow components ended the session higher, with American Express (AXP) (up 4.95%), Alcoa (AA) (up 3.04%), Boeing (BA) (up 3.54%), Caterpillar (CAT) (up 3.15%), DuPont (DD) (up 3.76%) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM) (up 3.93%) among the notable advancers in the session.

Among the sector indexes, the Dow Jones Transportation Average, the NYSE Arca Airline Index, the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index, the NYSE Arca Securities Broker/Dealer Index, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index, the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials Average all advanced over 2%. The KBW Bank Index ended up about 3%.
On the economic front, the Labor Department reported that initial claims for unemployment benefits fell to 512,000 in the week ended October 31st from 532,00 in the previous week, with the recent week's reading marking the lowest since the first week of January. Continuing claims also declined by 68,000 in the week ended October 24th. However, emergency unemployment and extended benefits continued to rise.

Productivity in the non-farm business sector rose at an annualized quarterly rate of 9.5% in the third quarter, according to a preliminary report released by the Labor Department. The productivity growth trumped the 6.5% consensus growth estimate of analysts by a wide margin. Unit labor costs fell 5.2%.

Currency, Commodity Futures

Crude oil futures are trading down $0.66 at $78.96 after receding $0.78 to $79.62 a barrel on Thursday. Gold futures are currently rising $7 to $1,096.30 an ounce. In the previous session, the precious metal climbed $2 to $1,089.30 an ounce.

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