Stocks set to climb after jobs report

By msnbc.com news services

U.S. stocks are set to rise Thursday, as traders digest new data on the U.S. labor market.

Before the open, the Labor Department said new claims for unemployment benefits fell back to a four-year low last week, suggesting further strengthening in the labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 351,000, the Labor Department said. That took claims back to a four-year low reached in February.

The market snapped a five-day winning streak on Wednesday as investors found little reason to extend a rally that took the benchmark index to four-year highs.

Capital One Financial dipped 1.5 percent to $51.55 in premarket trade after the company said it would sell $1.25 billion of its common stock to pay for a portion of its acquisition of HSBC's U.S. credit card business and forecast a strong first-quarter profit.

Guess Inc forecast a weak first-quarter profit as it expects belt-tightening by European governments to hurt consumer spending, sending the U.S. clothing maker's shares tumbling nearly 13 percent in trading after the bell on Wednesday.

European shares paused near eight-month highs, with investors awaiting more reassurance about the strength of the global economy and signs the improvement was filtering through into corporate earnings before pushing the rally further.

Asian shares eased on renewed concerns about Chinese growth, but a brighter global economic outlook underpinned the dollar and kept investor risk appetite intact, reducing the appeal of safe-haven government debts.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/15/10699172-stocks-set-to-climb-after-jobs-report

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