Stock Futures Pointed Slightly Higher Ahead of Jobs Report. Stocks to Watch: AAPL, FCX, GS, MRVL, PEG, and TM

Published on Friday, 05 March 2010 06:51 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, Mar 5^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Stock futures were pointing to a slightly higher open ahead of the highly expected Labor Department February jobs report. Stocks seem poised to extend their weekly gains.

Overseas, European stocks rose ahead of the U.S. employment report, as miners and financials led the gains. Asian stocks climbed pushed by the U.S. weekly jobless claims report and weaker yen, as traders speculated that the Bank of Japan will expand easing measures.

The Labor Department will release its report on February payrolls at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect the report to show the economy lost 63,000 jobs last month and for the unemployment rate to tick higher to 9.8%.

Today Stocks to watch: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL), Public Service Enterprise (NYSE:PEG), and Toyota Motors (NYSE:TM)

Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the maker of iPhones and the new iPads, received a boost in extended hours trading, pushing higher to $212 level after TV host Jim Cramer made bullish comments in its Mad Money TV show. Cramer said you want to own the stock between next week and when the iPad, is commercially available. The Mad Money host said that beginning next week the stock will start to break out to the upside. Additionally, he made an EPS comparison; he said that Apple is trading at 13x expected FY11 EPS, ex-cash, the same multiple as Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

Shares of Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, gained in European trading. Copper prices advanced in the London Metals Exchange as China said it will increase state reserves and stockpiles fell, easing concerns that supply may outpace demand.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), the Wall Street investment banking firm, will be in focus after breaking out yesterday, as shares jumped more than 3% to the $163 level. The higher move came with unusual increased volume as the breakout attracted momentum buyers. Bulls decided to push the stock higher as there are signs of strength in the first-quarter fixed income trading. Investors will be watching today’s price action for confirmation of the breakout to new levels.

Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL), the maker of chips for mobile devices, tumbled  more than 6% in extended hours of trading, and will likely be under pressure in today’s trading session.  The company said it swung to profit, when it reported quarterly earnings results. Despite increasing sales and reporting a profit for the quarter, the results disappointed investors, as fourth-quarter revenue grew less that some analysts had predicted.

Public Service Enterprise (NYSE:PEG), utility company operating in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, was upgraded by Jefferies to “Buy: from “Hold”. The analyst raised its target price for the stock to $35 from $32, citing the firm's EV/EBITDA valuation.

Toyota Motors (NYSE:TM), the largest automaker in the world, will be in focus as its quality and recall woes continued. Reports emerged that the current fix to its acceleration issues in some of its models is not currently addressing the unintended acceleration in the vehicles as speculation mounts that the issue with unintended acceleration has not been fixed as the likely cause could be in the electronics and not in the accelerator module. Several deaths have been linked to the quality problem, as Toyota preps for extended legal challenges. The company sales have been impacted to a lesser extend that expected, but if the rumors and fears continue it will ultimately affect Toyota’s standing in the market place.