A Quick Glance at News

v The labor market likely took a step back in August, an outcome that could compel the Federal Reserve to pump additional money into the sluggish economy.

v European (SXXP) stocks rose, extending yesterday’s biggest rally in a month, as investors awaited a U.S. report on payrolls and unemployment. U.S. index futures and Asian shares climbed.

v A U.S. Labor Department report today will probably show that payrolls in the world’s biggest economy rose at a slower pace last month, economists said. Employers hired an additional 130,000 workers in August, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. They took on 163,000 in July.

v The release may show that the unemployment rate held at 8.3 percent in August, economists projected. Unemployment has stayed above 8 percent for the last 42 months.

v The ECB’s bond-buying plan will target government notes with maturities of one to three years, Draghi said. Purchases will be fully sterilized to ensure a neutral impact on money supply, and the ECB will not have seniority, he said.

v Oil traded near the highest closing price in almost a week amid signs the U.S. recovery is improving and steps by China to stimulate its economy, indicating fuel demand may rise in the world’s biggest crude users.

v Chinese toy merchant Pan Junping says this is usually among his busiest times as customers in the U.S. and Europe load up on orders for Christmas. This year, he’s quieter than ever.

v The dollar strengthened against major rivals in Asian trading hours Friday, ahead of key U.S. jobs data due out later in the global trading day.

v Australia's trade deficit widened in July, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Friday. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the trade deficit totaled 556 million Australian dollars ($571.7 million), wider than the A$227 million reported in June but narrower than the A$644 million seen in May.

v Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) unveiled a new line of bigger, faster and sleeker Kindle e-readers and tablets, presenting a fresh challenge to Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s dominance of the market with the iPad.

v Apple Inc. (AAPL) engineers have been working since 2005 to reinvent TV viewing. Designing the gadget may prove easy compared with convincing media and cable companies to loosen their grip on the television industry.

v Sony Corp. is investigating a hacker attack that exposed information on about 400 customers of the company’s mobile-phone business in China and Taiwan.