US employers added just 235,000 jobs in August
Wall Street stocks finished mixed on Friday, holding around all-time highs after the report showed that US employers added just 235,000 jobs in August, barely one-third of the consensus forecast of 730,000. Weak data fueled expectations the Federal Reserve might postpone the withdrawal of economic stimulus. Still, the S&P 500 slipped 0.03%, the Dow Jones shed 0.21% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.21% ahead of a long weekend.
Asian stock markets gained on Monday as investors cheered a weaker-than-expected US jobs report. As such, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.12% and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 1.83%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 1.01% while the Kospi in South Korea added less than 0.1%.
In Europe, equities opened higher as well, boosted by the disappointing U.S. jobs report. Also on the positive side, orders for German factory goods unexpectedly surged 3.4% in July versus -1.0% expected. Now, investor focus is shifting towards the ECB meeting due on Thursday.
In currencies, the dollar weakened on Friday following the jobs data. However, the greenback managed to shrug off the weak figures on Monday to turn positive across the board. Still, the recovery momentum looks too modest and fragile to bet on sustained gains in the short term. EURUSD briefly exceeded the 1.1900 figure ahead of the weekend but failed to preserve gains ad retreated partially. Today, the pair slipped to the 1.1860 area despite strong economic data out of Germany.
Elsewhere, gold prices jumped to mid-July highs around $1,833 on Friday to settle above the key moving averages. Today, the precious metal has settled around $1,825, struggling to challenge the mentioned highs as the dollar proceeded to recovery at the beginning of the week. On the positive side, the bullion is holding above the $1,800 handle and could see fresh gains if the greenback fails to see a more sustained bullish correction in the short term.