U.S. equity futures were barely in the black Friday before data on March unemployment while Asian shares closed higher. In Germany, the DAX closed slightly in the red while the U.K’s FTSE 100 closed higher.

Equity futures trading remains open till 9:15 a.m. E.T.

At 8:30 a.m., the Labor Department’s March nonfarm payrolls are expected to have slipped to 247,000 from 295,000 in February. The consensus range is wide, between 200,000 and 271,000, according to data compiled by Econoday. The jobless rate is expected to remain unchanged at 5.5%, in the consensus range between 5.4% to 5.6%

In the U.S. equity markets were closed for the Good Friday holiday. In Europe, markets were closed Friday through Monday for the Easter holiday.