London (AFP) – The dollar fell sharply Friday after the US economy shed thousands of jobs in July, an economic blow that lowered the risk of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve that could slow growth in the world’s biggest economy. Stocks gained on the report that showed 23,000 jobs were lost last month, confounding expectations that 80,000 to 100,000 new posts would be created. Nearly every European market closed higher, with Paris, Frankfurt and Milan again reaching all-time highs, and Wall Street indices once more flirting with records for the Dow and S&P 500.
Combined with steep downward revisions to US jobs readings in May and June, the data is “likely to revive concerns among Fed officials about the health of the labour market and make them less inclined to commit to near-term tightening,” said Thomas Ryan, an economist at Capital Economics. For Bret Kenwell at trading platform eToro, “This is the kind of report that could revive Wall Street’s ‘bad news is good news’ reflex.” Inflation remains a concern, but today’s data may give policymakers more reason to remain patient — and investors more room to lean into risk,” he said.
Stocks have powered ahead in recent sessions, fuelled largely by tech names after corporate earnings beat forecasts and eased fears about when massive AI investments would start paying off. Hopes for an imminent US-Iran deal to end the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz added to optimism that oil and gas, along with other key products, would again start flowing freely after more than five months of war.
But oil prices turned higher ahead of the weekend in the absence of any confirmation of an accord, amid reports that Iran was planning to block US and Israeli ships from the waterway. Analysts said prices were unlikely to fall back to levels seen before the US-Iran war, when the main futures contracts were under $70 a barrel, absent concrete signs of progress after days of conflicting comments from officials in both countries.
– Key figures around 1545 GMT –
New York – DOW: UP 0.2 percent at 53,988.24 points
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 7,757.62
New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.3 percent at 26,694.00
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 10,901.09 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 8,714.93 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.7 percent at 26,319.45 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 65,606.71 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 25,668.03 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 3,940.04 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1526 from $1.1524 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3498 from $1.3456
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.50 yen from 158.40 yen
Euro/pound: FLAT at 85.65 pence from 85.65 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.4 percent at $83.60 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.2 percent at $78.25 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
