Market players were encouraged by a decline in U.S. unemployment claims
Wall Street stocks rose overnight as investors continued to cheer upbeat quarterly earnings. Furthermore, market players were encouraged by a decline in U.S. unemployment claims ahead of Friday’s monthly employment report, especially amid conflicting market indicators. As such, the S&P 500 rose 0.60%, while the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq climbed 0.78% each.
Today in Asia, trading was mixed amid the ongoing spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus across the region. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.24% while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.02%. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.33% despite the data showed that Japanese labor cash earnings edged lower in June for the first time in four months. The Kospi in Seoul lost 0.18% and the ASX/S&P 200 in Sydney added 0.36%.
European stocks opened little changed on Friday ahead of a key U.S. jobs report. The pan-regional STOXX 600 index inched down 0.1% in early trading. On the data front, German industrial output unexpectedly fell in June by 1.3% MoM versus a 0.5% rise expected and -0.8% last.
Meanwhile, the dollar is mostly higher versus major rivals ahead of employment figures. EURUSD dipped to the 20-DMA, flirting with the 1.1820 area that could pave the way to 1.1800. Strong US jobs figures would send the dollar higher on expectations that the Fed would have to act sooner than later. In this scenario, the pair could derail the mentioned support zone.
Elsewhere, oil prices bounced from the 100-DMA on Thursday to stage a recovery following a sell-off seen during the first half of the week. Brent crude rebounded from the $70 psychological level to climb to the $71.90 region earlier on Friday before retreating marginally. The futures were last seen changing hands around $71.60. The recovery was due to increasing Middle East tensions.
