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Forex traders watch monitors in the forex trading room at KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea on Friday, October 8, 2021. Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Friday after US lawmakers cut back temporarily avoided a possible default on government debt while investors waited for US jobs figures. (AP Photo / Ahn Young-joon)
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NEW YORK
US stocks open mixed on Friday after a disappointing jobs report hit Wall Street and raised questions about whether the Federal Reserve will change its timeline to reduce its support for markets. The S&P 500 was stable at the start of the session, gaining 1% for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite were also flat shortly after the opening. The immediate reaction to September’s weak jobs report saw Treasury yields fluctuate. Shares of energy producers led the way after crude oil prices resumed their ascent.
(asterisk) (asterisk) THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE (asterisk) (asterisk) AP’s previous story appears below.
US stocks open mixed on Friday after a disappointing jobs report swept across Wall Street and raised questions about whether the Federal Reserve will change its timeline to reduce its support for markets. The S&P 500 was stable at the start of the session, gaining 1% for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite were also flat shortly after the opening. The immediate reaction to September’s weak jobs report saw Treasury yields fluctuate. Shares of energy producers led the way after crude oil prices resumed their ascent.
Global equity markets rose as investors waited for U.S. employment data on Friday that could influence a Federal Reserve decision on when to reverse stimulus after lawmakers avoided a possible default in the U.S. payment of the public debt.
London and Frankfurt opened up. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong have advanced. Wall Street futures rose.
Investors want to see if U.S. hires in September were strong enough for Fed officials discussing when to pull out bond purchases and other stimulus that are pushing stock prices up, but say they want a healthy labor market.
Labor Department data on Friday “will decide, in the minds of the markets, whether the start of the Fed’s cut is a deal done for December,” Oanda’s Jeffrey Halley said in a report.
In early trading, the London FTSE 100 rose 1.7% to 7,079.73 while the Frankfurt DAX lost 0.3% to 15,208.73. The CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.2% to 6,586.79.
On Wall Street, the future of the benchmark S&P 500 has lost less than 0.1%. The future of the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up less than 0.1%.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% while the Dow Jones rose 1% after US lawmakers agreed to extend Washington’s borrowing capacity until December. The lack of an agreement could have led to a default according to experts that would delay the recovery after the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the truce, “concerns about his government’s US funding are far from over,” Mizuho Bank’s Venkateswaran Lavanya said in a report.
Earlier, the S&P 500 hovered between gains and losses of over 1% for four days due to anxiety over the fight against debt.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7% to 3,592.17 after Chinese markets reopened after a five-day vacation. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo jumped 1.3% to 28,048.94 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.6% to 24,837.35.
Kospi in Seoul lost 0.1% to 2,956.30 while ASX-S & P 200 in Sydney gained 0.9% to 7,320.10. The Indian Sensex gained 0.7% to 60,075.91. New Zealand retreated as Southeast Asian markets advanced.
On Thursday, the Labor Department announced that the number of people claiming unemployment fell last week.
Earlier, Fed officials responded to a spike in inflation by saying they wanted to make sure a recovery was established before withdrawing stimulus. Boosting employment could increase the pressure for prices to rise faster, which investors say could prompt the Fed and other central banks to cut stimulus measures that have boosted stock prices.
In energy markets, benchmark US crude rose $ 1.21 to $ 79.51 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 87 cents Thursday to $ 78.30. Brent crude, the basis of international oil prices, rose $ 1.24 to $ 83.19 per barrel in London. It added 87 cents the previous session to $ 81.95.
The dollar rose to 111.95 yen from 111.63 yen on Thursday. The euro rose to $ 1.1554 from $ 1.1550.
