US equity futures are pointing to slight gains at the start of trading.

That following the release of what at first glance appears to have been an over- all better than expected monthly employment report, with the only exception of an unexpected up-tick in the unemployment rate.

Meantime, and on the corporate front, analysts at Goldman Sachs have today added Citigroup to their Conviction Buy list.

Pharmceutical giant Eli Lilly jumped as it forecast 2013 earnings ahead of analysts´ expectations.

Johnson & Johnson has shown interest in Warburg Pincus LLC's contact-lens manufacturer Bausch & Lomb. Warburg wants at least $10bn for the business, according to people familiar with the situation, Bloomberg reports.

Furthermore, analysts at Deutsche Bank have upgraded shares of the company to buy from hold.

US non-farm payrolls rose by 155,000 in December, slightly ahead of the 152.000 forecast by the consensus. As well, the previous month´s data was revised up slightly. More notably, earnings per hour came in quite a bit better than expected.

US ISM services data is due for release at 15:00.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now falling by 0.66% to the 92.33 dollar per barrel mark on NYMEX.

10 year US Treasury yields are now rising by 2 basis points, to 1.94%.

AB

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