US equities ended mixed on friday after stronger than expected jobs report
US stocks ended mixed on Friday after the jobs report released showed more robust growth in the American labor market last month than had been expected. Stock market action was choppy as investors weighed the latest jobs data against fears that the Fed Reserve will continue with large interest –rates hikes to cool the economy as it seeks to tame high inflation. Subsequently S&P 500 increased 0.1% to finish at 3,899.38, Nasdaq 100 increased 0.1% to finish at 11,635.31 while Dow Jones declined 0.1% to finish at 31,338.15. The 10-year yield Treasury rose 9.1 basis points to 3.098%. Gold price increased 0.2% to $1,742.30 per ounce while WTI crude oil futures increased 2% to $104.79 per barrel.
Russian natural gas shipments to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline are due to stop of a planned annual maintenance this Monday and the West fears that Russia will use the opportunity to cut off gas flows permanently. French Finance Minister Le Maire said Europe must prepare for Russian gas deliveries to be shut off entirely and that France must build gas stockpiles and accelerate its program to develop renewable energy. In the meantime, the death toll in Ukraine continued to grow after Russian rockets hit an apartment building in Donetsk. Russian equity market was mostly unchanged this Monday morning as oil prices have retreated and global sentiment grew negative amid Covid resurgence in China. IMOEX lost 0.88% to 2201 with Rosneft, internet company Yandex and a gold producer Polyus among the worst performers. The shares of telecommunications company MTS slumped as much as 11%, as they started trading without a right to dividend. Russian ruble fell this morning after two days advances trimmed the biggest weekly loss in the currency value since March. Ruble lost 0.28% against US Dollar at 61.20 and gained 0.58 % against the Euro at 61.80 with EURUSD heading to parity amid Euro-Zone recession concerns. The yields on ruble bonds trading inside Russia were off by 7bps to 7.54% with Russian inflation slipping to the lowest level since the war began. Most analysts now expect a cut in the central bank rate at the July 22 meeting to 9%.
A muted to weaker open for SSA as 10Y UST trades firmly above 3% albeit with a slight rally early this session. ZAMBIN (-0.125pts) weaker as the FinMin projected a wider deficit – 9.9% vs previous 6.7% amid increased spending in H2. H1 fiscal performance was optimistic however with revenue and grants topping forecasts by 5.5% while expenditure was 14.7% below expectation.