NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stock investors get back to work Thursday in more ways than one, shifting their focus to the economy and two days of employment reports.
Stock futures rose in early trading, applying aloe to the market "Sun burn" suffered Wednesday after Sun Microsystems' earnings warning. Nasdaq-100 futures moved broadly higher, indicating an opening gain for the tech-heavy Nasdaq market. Standard & Poor's futures gained modestly, a sign that the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average would begin with advances.
The government is set to report weekly jobless claims, with economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecasting that new claims edged up to 408,000 last week from 407,000 the prior week.
The report comes ahead of Friday's jobs report for May. Economists forecast that the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent from 4.5 percent in April, with the economy losing 25,000 jobs after a drop of 223,000 – the biggest since the end of the last recession – in April.
Weakness in the job market has been a key factor in the Federal Reserve's move to cut interest rates five times this year, by a half percentage point each time, in a bid to keep the ailing economy from slipping into recession. The central bank could cut rates again when it meets late next month.
The Dow Jones industrial average starts below 11,000 for the first time in a couple of weeks after falling 1.5 percent Wednesday to 10,872.64. The Nasdaq composite index fell 4.2 percent to 2,084.50, while the S&P 500 lost nearly 20 points to 1,248.08.
Continued weakness in tech stocks caused Asian markets to finish lower Thursday. European stocks opened lower.
Treasury prices rose, lowering yields. The 10-year note yield slipped to 5.50 percent from 5.51 percent late Wednesday, while the 30-year bond yield dipped to 5.84 percent from 5.85 percent.
The dollar rose against the euro and weakened versus the yen. Brent oil futures declined 34 cents to $28.80 a barrel in London.
FleetBoston Financial Corp. (FBF: Research, Estimates) is in talks about a possible acquisition of Liberty Financial Cos.' asset-management unit, valued at about $1 billion, according to published reports. FleetBoston shares lost 4 cents Wednesday to $41.91.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber [entity:stockQuote || ticker:GT || liveQuote:False]] reached a deal with Ford Motor (F: Research, Estimates) Wednesday to help replace 13 million Firestone tires on light trucks as part of a recall announced last week. Ford started the recall because it believes the Firestone tires are responsible for safety problems with its Explorer sport/utility vehicle. Ford shares fell 39 cents to $24.60 Wednesday while Goodyear dropped 7 cents to $28.88.
Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) unveils its latest version of its Office software, among the world's most popular business applications. But many computer analysts say the revised software doesn't offer enough change to warrant upgrades by consumers. Microsoft shares fell $1.15 Wednesday to $69.19. 
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