Stocks Poised to Continue Gains

Stock futures edged higher Thursday as two key economic reports released before the opening bell showed an upswing in employment.

More new jobs were created for the fourth month in a row as private employers added 55,000 members to their ranks in May. Payroll processor ADP said that’s down slightly from a revised increase of 65,000 in April.

“The slow pace of improvement from February through May is consistent with the pause in the decline of initial unemployment claims that occurred during the winter months,” the report said.

The ADP report follows on the heels of a separate jobs number released Wednesday by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. and comes a day before the government’s May employment report.

The number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time also declined. The Labor Department said Thursday that there were 453,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended May 29, down 10,000 from an upwardly revised 463,000 the previous week.

Although, the government also said 4.66 million people filed continuing claims in the week ended May 22. That’s up 31,000 from the preceding week. Continuing claims reflect people who file each week after their initial claim until the end of their standard benefits, which usually last 26 weeks. The figures do not include those who have moved to state or federal extensions, nor people who have exhausted their benefits.

World Markets: Stocks edged higher around the world. The CAC 40 in France was up more than two percent while the FTSE 100 in Britain and the DAX in Germany were poised to gain more than one percent.

Asian markets ended the day mixed. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.62 percent and the Nikkei in Japan gained 3.24 percent. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.73 percent.

Currencies & Commodities: The euro strengthened 0.80 percent to $1.2217 against the dollar as the greenback gained against the British pound, Japanese yen and Chinese yuan.

Oil prices gained 43 cents to $73.29 for July delivery. Gas prices continued to fall after dipping to $2.716 from $2.723 a day earlier.

Gold prices dipped $3.20 an ounce to $1,217.40 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.