European stocks rally before US jobs report
LONDON — European stock markets rallied on Friday following gains in Asian trading and overnight on Wall Street and as traders readied for key US jobs data.In late morning deals, London's…
LONDON — European stock markets rallied on Friday following gains in Asian trading and overnight on Wall Street and as traders readied for key US jobs data.In late morning deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 0.58 percent to 5,559.16 points. Frankfurt's DAX 30 climbed 0.46 percent to 5,821.80 points and in Paris the CAC 40 advanced 0.72 percent to 3,856.40.The Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares rose by 0.71 percent in value to stand at 2,836.44 points."The release of the non-farm payroll data will dominate markets today, as investors look to see the strength of the economic recovery," said analyst Owen Ireland at ODL Securities trading house."If the US is to move forward, the primary driver will be getting people back in to jobs, which will then stimulate spending, which in turn will get the cogs in the wheel turning over once again."The latest non-farm payrolls data will likely show that the US economy shed 65,000 jobs and the jobless rate ticked up to 9.8 percent in February, according to analysts' consensus forecast. The report is due at 1330 GMT.Earlier on Friday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index closed up 2.20 percent to 10,368.96 points, with sentiment lifted by a lower yen and hopes that the Japanese central bank will ease monetary policy further.Japanese stocks were helped also by a late surge on Wall Street.US stocks had closed higher on Thursday with sentiment lifted by a drop in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits, traders said.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.46 percent to end at 10,444.14 points, a day after the market closed on a flat note.The Labor Department reported Thursday that 469,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week that ended February 27, versus 498,000 the prior week, marking the first fall seen in three weeks."The day's weekly jobless report was interpreted by some as a positive harbinger" of Friday's nonfarm payroll report, said Elizabeth Harrow of Schaeffer's Investment Research.Dealers were me
last modification 2010-03-05 13:30:02
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