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Wall Street has job report jitters

NEW YORK, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Stocks were set for a lower opening Friday as Wall Street prepared for an expected poor report on the U.S. jobs market.

Hours before the opening bell, Dow, Nasdaq and Standard & Poor's 500 stock futures were down, a sign of how the market could open based on what the December employment figures indicates, CNNMoney.com reported.

Before the opening bell, the U.S. Labor Department is expected to report the U.S. economy lost 500,000 jobs in December, compared with 533,000 jobs in November, CNNMoney.com said. The report is also expected to show that the unemployment rate rose to 7 percent from 6.7 percent in the previous reporting period.

The wholesale inventories report could ease concerns about the manufacturing sector, the online service said. The Census Bureau's report, issued after trading begins, is expected to show wholesale inventories fell 0.9 percent in November after tumbling 1.1 percent in October.

Stocks ended Thursday's session mixed, reacting to weak retail sales and in anticipation of the jobs report.

Asian stocks closed lower Friday, with the Tokyo's Nikkei index down nearly 0.5 percent. European markets also were lower in early trading.

In electronic trading, oil rose 50 cents to $42.20 a barrel.

Obama stimulus catching Democratic flak

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- President-elect Barack Obama's economic recovery plan has run into problems among fellow Democrats in Congress, officials say.

Amid indications passage could take longer than hoped, Senate Democrats complained that major components of his stimulus plan should focus on creating jobs and rebuilding the nation's energy infrastructure rather than cutting taxes, The New York Times said Friday.

Conservatives were criticizing high spending and moderate Democrats were concerned over the swelling deficit, the report says. Liberals meanwhile reportedly want more money for social programs and alternative-energy development.

Obama earlier Thursday warned the recession could last for years unless his plan is adopted within weeks. He has been working on a package worth as much as $775 billion over two years to revive the sagging economy.

Meanwhile, the Obama transition team has been considering how to use the second $350 billion of the bailout program approved by Congress and a possible broader range to provide relief on consumer loans for homes, automobiles and education.

Gaza battle goes on; U.N. urges cease-fire

GAZA, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Israeli military said its aircraft struck 50 suspected Hamas sites in Gaza Friday, despite the U.N. Security Council's call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel's Cabinet was expected to meet Friday to review the security situation, CNN reported.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, responded by firing 25 rockets into southern Israel, injuring one person, military officials said.

Palestinian medical personnel said 10 Palestinians were killed in Friday's air attack. About 770 Palestinians and 13 Israelis have been killed since Israel began its air and ground assault Dec. 27. Israel said the operation was to end Hamas's rocket fire on Israeli targets.

The U.N. Security Council Thursday passed a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, saying it was concerned about the growing humanitarian crisis and civilian casualties.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice abstained in the vote, saying the United States preferred to see what Egyptian-brokered talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders yield.

The resolution "stresses the urgency of, and calls for, an immediate, durable, and fully respected cease-fire which will lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza" and condemned "all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.N. resolution did not consider the interests of the Palestinian people, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, also criticized the resolution Friday, saying the U.N. Security Council should have denounced Israel while requiring an end to the attacks and the opening of border crossings, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported.

John Ging, director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, said Thursday his agency and the international Red Cross have suspended work in Gaza until their safety is assured. Two aid workers have been killed.

Biden in Pakistan to discuss war on terror

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President-elect Joe Biden was in Pakistan Friday to discuss with senior leaders the fight against extremists, the U.S. Embassy said.

The visit by Biden, in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a congressional delegation came hours after U.S. and Pakistani officials confirmed an American missile strike killed two senior al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan, CBS News reported.

Biden was scheduled to meet Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, a senior Pakistani government official said, adding that the vice president-elect likely would meet as well with Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, the Pakistani army's chief of staff.

Biden was accompanied by South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who serves on the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland security, CNN reported.

Reported killed in the missile attack were Usama al-Kini, al-Qaida's operations chief in Pakistan, and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, a lieutenant. A senior Pakistani security official confirmed the killings, saying Pakistan had "knowledge of the killing," but did not provide further information, CBS said.

Biden also is expected to visit India during his trip, meeting the country' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an effort to ease tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries after the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

House to vote on Blagojevich impeachment

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich ripped a House panel's vote to recommend his impeachment, saying the outcome was never in doubt.

The full state House was expected to vote Friday on the panel's unanimous recommendation to impeach Blagojevich.

The House Special Investigative Committee voted 21-0 to accuse Blagojevich of a series of alleged efforts to secure personal gain or campaign contributions in exchange for official acts. Among the acts were his alleged effort to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder and alleged demands that the Chicago Tribune fire members of its editorial board in exchange for state assistance in the sale of the Chicago Cubs. The committee also cited his multimillion-dollar purchase of flu vaccine that federal officials would not allow into the country and his expansion of a state health insurance program despite the Legislature's opposition.

Blagojevich's office in a statement criticized the vote, calling the result a "foregone conclusion" and predicting a "much different" outcome in the state Senate, where an impeachment trial would be conducted, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

"The governor believes that the impeachment proceedings were flawed, biased and did not follow the rules of law," the statement said.

Also Thursday, Roland Burris, whom Blagojevich appointed to fill Obama's unexpired term, indicated he asked Blagojevich's former chief of staff and college classmate, Lon Monk, to convey his interest in the Senate seat to the governor last July or September.

The testimony appears to differ from an affidavit Burris submitted to the impeachment panel in which he stated he spoke to no "representatives" of the governor about the Senate post before Dec. 26, the Sun-Times said.