Before the bell: Stock to open mixed

This morning, it seems investors are recovering somewhat from Friday's selloff, or at least trying to. Stock futures have been steadily inching up so far, but are still nearly flat and mixed. with the S&P 500 futures slightly negative and the Nasdaq futures slightly positive. Perhaps the concerns over a possible recession following Friday's weak employment report will make room for cautious optimism over an expected Federal Reserve rate cut.

On Friday, U.S. stocks dropped sharply with the Dow industrials plunging almost 250 point or 1.87%. The Nasdaq declined 1.86% and the S&P 500 1.68%. A much weaker-than-expected jobs report raised concerns of a recession as non-farm payrolls actually declined by 4,000 in August for the first time in four years. Despite the fact that with this report most investors became quite certain the Fed will cut rates next week (arguing if it will be a quarter point or half point hike), it wasn't enough to offset the recession worries arising from the data.

Meanwhile, other lingering concerns over the subprime mortgage market have not abated. Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) announced Friday it was cutting 12,000 jobs, or up to 20% of its employees within three months. CFC stock is actually trading up over 1% in premarket.
As for the credit crunch and its effect on on the financial industry, investors are waiting for next week's earnings from four brokerage firms, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Bear sterns.
The Street will also examine the commercial paper market, which has shrank for a fourth week. About $120 billion is to be renewed this week.