As earnings season arrives, US stock futures build on gains from strong jobs report

July 8, 2013 at 11:30AM

NEW YORK — U.S. stock futures are building on gains from Friday's strong jobs report as Wall Street turns its attention to the traditional start of earnings season.

Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 68 points at 15,144. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures are up 9.20 points at 1,636.50. Nasdaq futures are up 18 points to 2,974.

Aluminum giant Alcoa Inc.'s quarterly earnings report, expected after the markets close Monday, kicks off the summer earnings season.

The overall corporate earnings outlook has dimmed. Analysts now predict that second-quarter earnings for companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 3 percent compared with a year earlier, according to a survey by S&P Capital IQ. But as recently as April 1, they predicted a gain of nearly 7 percent.

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