Stocks Mixed after soft U.S. Jobs Data
Stocks were mixed today as technology shares outperformed. S&P 500 rose a little by 0.03% as well as Nasdaq up by 0.33% at a record high. The Dow closing as the private payrolls data missed estimates. 10-year U.S. treasury yields turn flat at 1.304%, a loss of 0.003%, after a disappointing jobs data. The U.S. dollar index also had little change up, currently trading at 92.48 on early Thursday after two consecutive days of drop from hints of U.S. employment. The market will be watching for the initial jobless claims, with a forecast of 345K, down from last weeks result of 353K, showing signs of economic recovery.
Asian stocks opened mixed this morning after soft U.S. jobs data fueled optimism the Federal Reserve might feel less pressure to wind down stimulus. China’s CSI 300 is down by 0.10% and Japan’s NIKKEI by 0.33%, currently trading at 28,543.51. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down by 0.10 % trading at 26,002.17.
European stocks closed higher on Wednesday as fresh signs of weakness in Asian economies were offset by hopes for more stimulus, while investors shook off concerns about rising inflation.
After seven straight months of gains, the pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.5% to end at 473.12 points and was within striking distance of its record high of 476.16. The DAX in Germany traded 0.9% higher, the CAC 40 in France rose 1.4%, the UK’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.9%. Helping the tone, on Wednesday comments stating that the Eurozone economy is growing quicker than the ECB expected and hinting at an upward revision to the bank’s growth forecasts when its policy-making council next meets.
The MOEX Russia Index climbed to 3,955.77 points (+0.94%) during the trading session on the Moscow Exchange on Wednesday. The MOEX Russia Index was for the first time above 3,950 points. The RTS Index added 1.4% to 1,707.77 points. The Russian GDP in July 2021 grew by 4.7% in annual terms, according to the report “Business Activity Picture” published by the Ministry yesterday.
Oil prices fell on Thursday after OPEC+ agreed to keep its policy of gradually returning supply to the market at a time when coronavirus cases around the world are surging and many U.S. refiners, a key source of crude demand, remained offline. Brent crude was down by 16 cents, or 0.2%, at $71.43 a barrel by 0422 GMT, after dropping 4 cents on Wednesday. U.S. oil fell 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $68.36 a barrel, after rising 9 cents in the previous session. Gold was down on Thursday morning in Asia. The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, inched up on Thursday but remained near multi-week lows. Wednesday’s data showed that the ADP nonfarm employment change for August was 374,000. The figure was below the 613,000 in forecasts prepared by Investing.com but indicated a continuous, steady job market recovery.