The Labor Department’s report will be issued later today and could affect market sentiment ahead of the weekend
After a choppy session, Wall Street stocks finished lower on Thursday as investors continued to digest hawkish Fed meeting minutes revealed earlier in the week. On the data front, fresh data showed that there were 207,000 initial jobless claims last week, higher than expected this time. The Labor Department’s December jobs report will be issued later today and could affect market sentiment ahead of the weekend. On Thursday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both edged down 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5%.
Following suit, Asian equities were mostly lower on Friday. Still, the sentiment has somehow improved by the close of trade. The Shanghai Composite index slid 0.18% and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo erased early losses to shed less than 0.1%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed 1.8% after the initial decline. The South Korean Kospi added 1.18% after Samsung said it expects its fourth-quarter operating profit to jump 52% year-over-year, to $11.5 billion, the highest fourth-quarter operating profit in four years.
European stocks were mixed at the open on Friday, struggling for direction after the recent sell-off. On the data front, Germany’s November industrial production came in at -0.2% versus +1.0% m/m expected, suggesting that the recovery in the manufacturing sector is faltering. On an annualized basis, industrial production declined by 2.4% in November versus a 0.9% drop registered in the previous month.
In currencies, most pairs are range-bound ahead of the key economic release of the week. The dollar advanced yesterday as the US Treasury yields continued to rise after a hawkish signal from the Fed. Should the upcoming jobs report reveal better-than-expected figures, the greenback may receive another boost later in the day. The USD index was last seen changing hands around 96.19, down 0.14% on the day.
