Equities
Global stocks rose as markets absorbed North American jobs data and braced for the second round of French elections this weekend.
Wall Street shares were up after data showed U.S. job growth slowed to a still-healthy pace in June. Shortly after markets opened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3 per cent, the S&P 500 rose as much as 0.11 per cent before falling back to trade flat, and the Nasdaq Composite ticked up 0.3 per cent.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.15 per cent at the open to 22,277.54 at open, as traders parsed the unemployment data from Canada and the U.S.
Wall Street was searching the latest economic data for clues as to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s next interest rate move.
“It’s a relatively benign report. The market was generally expecting the job gains to be a little bit lower, but the number was lower than May’s report that had really worried some people,” said Emily Bowersock Hill, CEO of Bowersock Capital Partners.
“If you’re the Fed, you’re saying – what happened in May is not quite as hot as we thought. The data isn’t bad enough to alarm markets, and not bad enough to worry the Fed.”
Meanwhile, MSCI’s world stock index touched a fresh record high.
In Europe, markets shifted focus from the U.K. election – where the Labour victory in Thursday’s vote was widely anticipated – to Sunday’s second-round election in France. French stocks have recovered ground after they were sold off sharply following the surprise election announcement last month.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.32 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.48 per cent, Germany’s DAX rose 0.82 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.37 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was flat, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed down 1.27 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices steadied on track for a fourth straight week of gains, driven by hopes of strong summer fuel demand and supply concerns.
Brent crude futures rose 0.1 per cent to US$87.51 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 0.1 per cent at US$83.98.
“Those who have kept faith that the driving season would eventually come are glowing in prescience and the many calls of a much better path for bulls in the third quarter seem to hold true at present,” said PVM oil analyst John Evans.
Spot gold was up 0.7 per cent at US$2,371.58 per ounce.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar was down against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 73.25 US cents to 73.52 US cents. The Canadian dollar was up about 0.19 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, was down flat at to 105.12.
The euro gained 0.06 per cent to US$1.0820. The British pound rose 0.27 per cent to US$1.2794.
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was down slightly at 4.311 per cent.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin was set for its biggest weekly fall in more than a year, as traders fretted over the likely dumping of tokens from defunct Japanese exchange Mt. Gox.
The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency slid as much as 8 per cent on the day to US$53,523, its lowest since late February. It was on track for a more than 12 per cent weekly decline, its biggest since early November 2022.
Economic news
Japan household spending
Euro zone retail sales
Germany industrial production
(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian employment for June.
(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. nonfarm payrolls for June.
(10 a.m. ET) U.S. Global Supply Chain Pressure Index for June.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press