Stocks could continue to tilt higher Thursday, as traders focus on U.S. jobless claims data and productivity and labor costs ahead of the October jobs report.
Friday’s employment report is expected to show 231,000 nonfarm payrolls were added in October, and that fits with ADP’s 230,000 private sector payrolls reported in its Wednesday release. Good jobs growth was also confirmed in the ISM nonmanufacturing survey’s employment index Wednesday, which rose to 59.6—a nine-year high.
“The stars are aligned for a 230,000 print for nonfarm suggested by these various data points. That’s the sentiment going into Friday’s report. If you get a claims number of 285,000 or so, that’s what’s expected,” said Adrian Miller, director of fixed-income strategy at GMP Securities.
The claims and productivity and costs data are released at 8:30 a.m. EST, and Miller says he’s watching to see if the labor costs meet expectations of a 0.5 percent increase, confirming an increase in the employment cost index last quarter.