Indications: U.S. futures climb after Thursday's tumult

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By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures on Friday rose after one of the most tumultuous sessions in history, with data showing 290,000 nonfarm payrolls jobs added last month helping to put fears over euro-zone stability, U.K. election uncertainty and market volatility momentarily into the background.

Stock futures were volatile in reaction to the Labor Department report, which showed 224,000 workers hired in April outside of Census workers, though the unemployment rate rose to 9.9% from 9.7%.

Though off the day's best levels, S&P 500 futures rose 5 points to 1,127.30 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 6.5 points to 1,892.50. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 34 points.

Still, signs of nervousness were evident, with inter-bank lending rates climbing to the highest levels since last August, according to ICAP.

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• MarketWatch Topics: Greece • Asia Markets | Europe Markets | LatAm Markets • Canadian Markets | Israel Stocks | London • U.S.: Market Snapshot | After Hours

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HIGHLIGHTS • Rating agencies keep pressure on U.K. politicians • Hung parliament sets off negotations • Lower German house backs aid for Greece • Citi sees up to 20% correction over Greece

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U.S. stocks ended with steep losses Thursday after an afternoon meltdown lopped nearly 1,000 points off the Dow Jones Industrials Average -- its biggest intraday drop ever -- before a comeback of sorts, as Europe's troubles took hold on Wall Street and talk of errant trades exacerbated the swift selloff.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day down 347 points, or 3.2%, and at one point blue chip Procter & Gamble was down 37%.

The Nasdaq OMX Group said late Thursday that they would cancel errant trades made between 2:40 p.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern. A rumor that Citigroup accidentally made a $16 billion rather than a $16 million futures transaction was rejected by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which said trading by Citigroup in its stock index futures markets "does not appear to be irregular or unusual in light of market activity today."

Meanwhile, the issue that seemed to have hit stocks at the beginning of the day -- euro-zone stability -- will be in the spotlight as Germany approved its contribution to the joint European Union-International Monetary Fund 110 billion euro loan package for Greece.

The finance ministers of the Group of Seven leading economies are due to hold a telephone conference to discuss the Greek debt turmoil. Japan's finance minister, Naoto Kan, said they weren't likely to jointly intervene to help the euro, but the shared currency nonetheless rose on the news.

There were still plenty of doubters, with BNP Paribas going so far as to suggest parity for the euro /quotes/comstock/21o!x:seurusd (CUR_EURUSD 1.2704, +0.0075, +0.5939%) vs. the dollar by the first quarter of 2011 -- vs. $1.2708 on Friday. Citigroup strategists say the Greece issues could cause a global equities correction of between 10% and 20%.

Through Thursday, U.S. stocks are down 7.6% from April highs.

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.5% in early afternoon trade, while the Nikkei 225 dropped 3.1% in Tokyo.

U.K. government bonds, the British pound /quotes/comstock/21o!x:sgbpusd (CUR_GBPUSD 1.4663, -0.0117, -0.7923%) , and U.K. stocks all fell after the election resulted in a hung parliament. By law, incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown gets the first opportunity to form a coalition. See full story.

Of stocks in the spotlight, Dow component Kraft Foods /quotes/comstock/13*!kft/quotes/nls/kft (KFT 29.21, -0.54, -1.82%) rose 1% reported that its profit nearly tripled after the acquisition of Cadbury.

HSBC Holdings /quotes/comstock/13*!hbc/quotes/nls/hbc (HBC 46.69, -2.71, -5.49%) rose 2% in premarket trade however after the banking giant reported a "very good" first quarter, with its first pretax profit in the U.S. since 2007. The Royal Bank of Scotland /quotes/comstock/13*!rbs/quotes/nls/rbs (RBS 13.85, -1.32, -8.70%) dropped 3% however after reporting a narrowing of its loss. See full story.

Goldman Sachs /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS 142.32, -5.87, -3.96%) rose nearly 3% after a report in The Wall Street Journal of settlement talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.