U.S. stocks on Thursday finished higher after troubled bond insurer MBIA maintained it could keep its AAA rating, alleviating some of the concerns for bond insurers being downgraded, thus affecting other financial institution that hold their securities. The Dow industrials climbed 207 points, or 1.67%, the S&P 500 was up 22 points, or 1.68%, and the Nasdaq Composite added 40 points, 1.74%.

Several important economic readings today could have an impact on the market as they could further shed light on the state of the economy:

• At 8:30 a.m. EST, January jobs report is scheduled for release. Nonfarm payrolls is expected to show 70,000 more jobs after the abysmal addition of 18,000 jobs in December. Unemployment rate is expected to remain at 5%, and hourly earnings to increase 0.3%.
• At 10:00 a.m., the Institute for Supply Management will release its nationwide manufacturing survey. The ISM is expected to slip to 47.0% in January from 48.4% in December. The December reading was the first sub-50 reading since January 2007.
• At the same time, the University of Michigan’s updated survey on January consumer confidence is also due.