Wall St seen steady before payrolls, Alcoa in focus

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures indicated a mixed start on Wall Street on Friday before jobs data which will be scrutinized for clues on the strength of the world's largest economy which looks to be headed towards recession.

Alcoa (AA.N) will also be in focus after the U.S. aluminium producer teamed up with Chinese mining group Chinalco to buy a 12 percent stake in Rio Tinto (RIO.L), threatening BHP Billiton's (BLT.L) efforts to win Rio.

By 5:55 a.m EST, Dow futures were up 0.3 percent, S&P futures were steady and Nasdaq futures fell 0.3 percent.

The technology sector was under pressure after Google (GOOG.O) reported disappointing quarterly results on rising capital spending and costs for acquiring advertising customers, unnerving investors who sent its shares down more than 6 percent in extended trade on Thursday.

Attention is firmly focused on U.S. payrolls data due at 1330 GMT.

U.S. businesses likely added more than four times the number of jobs in January than in a dismal December that seemed to push the United States to the brink of recession.

The median estimate of economists polled by Reuters on Wednesday and Thursday put nonfarm payrolls up 80,000 in January, against the gain of only 18,000 in December. Forecasts from 80 economists ranged from up 25,000 to up 130,000.

"While we do not forecast a decline in U.S. GDP, the four headwinds of housing, oil, credit conditions, and financial dislocation will likely keep the U.S. economy at or close to stall speed in 2008," strategists at PIMCO said in a note.

On the results front, Motorola (MOT.N) said on Thursday it was considering separating its loss-making mobile phone unit, in an apparent concession to demands from activist investor Carl Icahn, sending its shares up 12.7 percent in extended trade.

Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Chevron (CVX.N) are among companies reporting results on Friday.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Thursday after bond insurer MBIA (MBI.N) reassured investors about its stability, fuelling a rebound by financial shares hammered recently by the prospect of crumbling credit markets.