Before the Open (Nov 2)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Employment Numbers Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Malaysia dropped 1.2%; China, India, Japan and South Korea rallied more than 1%. Europe is currently mixed. Greece is up 3.5% and Austria 1.6%; there are no big losers. Before the jobs data, futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.
Here are earnings and company-specific headlines…
Bershire Hathaway (BRK-a) is buying Oriental Trading, a provider of party supplies, arts and crafts, toys and other items.
Penske’s (PAG) revenue rose, but their profit fell 26%.
Beam (BEAM) posted an 8% sales increase, but their net profit dropped 82%.
LinkedIn (LNKD) blew out expectations…the stock is up 9%.
Priceline’s (PCLN) Q3 earnings rose 27%…the stock is up 10%.
Starbucks (SBUX) beat expectations…stock is up 8%.
TripAdvisor (TRIP) said Q3 earnings rose 9.3%…stock is up 17%.
Guess (GES) is losing two senior executives…stock is down 9%.
Prospect Capital (PSEC) is doing a secondary offering of 35 million shares…stock is down 7%.
Active Network (ACTV) posted a widened loss and said they expect to incur a loss in the current quarter and full year…stock is down 25%.
Hess (HES) posted good numbers…stock is up 3.3%
And here are the employment numbers…
unemployment rate: 7.9% (it was 7.8% last month)
nonfarm payrolls: up 171K (120K was expected)
private payrolls: (I will post these when I get the number)
average workweek: 34.4 hours (same as last month)
hourly earnings: $23.58 (down 1 cent)
S&P futures jumped about 6 points after the news hit.
The market took a step up yesterday. All the indexes moved to the top side of the little consolidation patterns they had been trading in. The upward price movement and the passage of time has neutralized the bearish sentiment that built up last week. Here’s the daily S&P chart. It’s very possible we now have a larger pattern forming.

Trade what happens, not what you think should happen. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
headlines at MarketWatch
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers