London (AFP) – Major stock markets and the dollar pushed higher Friday as key jobs data showed the US labour market is resilient in the face of uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariffs. A below-par reading on private hiring this week raised worries about the labour market and the outlook for the US economy ahead of the non-farm payrolls report, a key piece of data used by the Federal Reserve as it decides about interest rates. The data showed hiring in the world’s largest economy came in at 139,000 last month, just above market expectations. The figure indicates that the US employment market is relatively healthy despite the jolts to financial markets, supply chains and consumer sentiment this year as Trump announced successive waves of tariffs.
“Today’s jobs report should bring relief to investors who are worried about a breakdown in the labour market,” said eToro US investment analyst Bret Kenwell. The state of the jobs market is critical given how important consumer spending is to the overall economy, he noted. “While it may not be firing on all cylinders, it’s far from showing signs of a major breakdown,” he said.
Wall Street futures jumped after the data was released, with the Dow climbing 0.8 percent when the market opened for trading. European stocks also picked up, although Frankfurt was flat after sentiment was knocked by the Bundesbank warning Germany could face two more years of recession if a trade war with the United States escalates sharply. For now, however, the eurozone economy is showing signs of resilience, with official data Friday showing it expanded at a significantly faster pace than previously estimated in the first three months of the year. The EU’s data agency said the 20-country single currency area recorded growth of 0.6 percent over the January-March period from the previous quarter, up from the 0.3-percent figure published last month.
Equity markets had been buoyed this week by hopes that talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping could lead to an easing of tensions following Trump’s “Liberation Day” global tariff blitz that targeted Beijing particularly hard. However, optimism in markets from what Trump called the “very positive” talks Thursday was largely wiped out by the stunning public row between the US leader and his former adviser Elon Musk. An extraordinary social media row between Trump and billionaire former aide Musk saw the two trade insults and threats, sending Wall Street into the red Thursday.
The president threatened Musk’s multibillion-dollar government contracts, and shares in his Tesla electric-vehicle manufacturer plummeted about 15 percent as the astonishing row escalated — wiping more than $100 billion from the company’s value.
– Key figures at around 1330 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.8 percent at 42,676.59 points
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.9 percent at 5,993.75
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 19,521.80
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,836.54
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,803.75
Frankfurt – DAX: FLAT at 24,323.88
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.5 percent at 37,741.61 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.5 percent at 23,792.54 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: FLAT at 3,385.36 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.179 from $1.1444 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3511 from $1.3571
Dollar/yen: UP at 144.86 yen from 143.58 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.23 pence from 84.31 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $65.63 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 at $63.69 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
