U.S. Stock Futures Gain as Job Growth Exceeds Forecasts:

U.S. stock futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) will extend a 5 1/2-year high, as data showed employers added more jobs than forecast last month and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped.
Citigroup Inc. climbed 2.5 percent as it sought permission to buy back shares and the Federal Reserve said 17 of the 18 largest U.S. banks could withstand a deep recession. Pandora Media Inc. (P) surged 25 percent as fourth-quarter revenue jumped 54 percent. Navistar International Corp. (NAV) rose 3.5 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its rating on the company to overweight from neutral.

S&P 500 futures expiring in June added 0.5 percent to 1,544.8 at 8:45 a.m. in New York. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 82 points, or 0.6 percent, to 14,338.
“This is a uniformly strong report that’s going to be supportive of economic growth and the markets,” Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at RidgeWorth Capital Management in Richmond, Virginia, said by telephone. His firm oversees about $48 billion. “Bull markets need care and feeding, and this is the kind of report that is a healthy dose of good news. More jobs mean more income, which means more spending.”
Employment rose 236,000 last month after a revised 119,000 gain in January that was smaller than first estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 90 economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected an advance of 165,000. The jobless rate dropped from 7.9 percent. Hiring in construction jumped by the most in almost six years.
Record Highs
The S&P 500 has rallied 1.7 percent this week, on course for the biggest gain in two months, as jobless-benefit claims fell to a six-week low and investors speculated that central banks will continue with stimulus measures. The S&P 500 has risen to the highest level since October 2007 and the Dow is at an all-time high.
Stocks rose worldwide as a report showed gross domestic product in Japan rose an annualized 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter, the Cabinet Office said. A preliminary estimate had shown the world’s third-biggest economy contracted 0.4 percent in the period.
China’s exports increased 21.8 percent in February from a year earlier, the customs administration said. That beat the 8.1 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Citigroup added 2.5 percent to $46.11 as the third-largest U.S. bank sought Fed permission to repurchase $1.2 billion in shares a year after its previous request was rejected.
Separately, the Fed said 17 of the 18 biggest banks could withstand a deep recession and maintain capital above a regulatory minimum. Only Ally Financial Inc., the auto lender majority-owned by U.S. taxpayers, fell below a 5 percent Tier 1 common ratio, a regulatory minimum and measure of financial strength, according to data released yesterday by the central bank in Washington.

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