In US economic data, jobs rose by 315,000 in August (survey: 298,000). But the unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 3.7% last month (survey: 3.5%). And average hourly earnings rose by 0.3% in August to be up 5.2% on a year ago (survey: +5.3%). Factory orders fell by 1.1% in July (survey: +0.2%).
European sharemarkets rose on Friday with the pan-European STOXX 600 index up by 2.0% – the first rise in six sessions. Over the week the STOXX 600 index fell 2%. Credit Suisse rose 6.1% on reports that Switzerland’s second-biggest bank is considering cutting around 5,000 jobs. The German Dax index lifted by 3.3%. And the UK FTSE index rebounded by 1.9%. In London trade, shares in Rio Tinto rose by 2.0% and shares in BHP gained 2.5%.
US sharemarkets fell on Friday. The jobs data supported shares in the morning session but fears of a European gas crisis saw shares fell in the afternoon session. Russian monopoly gas producer Gazprom said it could not restart production as expected after a gas leak. At the close of trade, the Dow Jones index was down by 338 points or 1.1% after earlier being up 370 points. The S&P 500 index also fell by 1.1%. And the Nasdaq index lost 154 points or 1.3%.
Over the week the Dow lost 3%; S&P 500 fell 3.3%; and the Nasdaq fell 4.2%.
US treasuries were stronger on Friday (yields lower). US 10-year yields fell by around 7 points to near 3.195%. And US 2-year yields fell by around 13 points to near 3.396%. Over the week US 10-year yields rose by 17 points with US 2-year yields up 1 point.
Major currencies were mixed against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Euro rose from near US$0.9960 to highs near US$1.0030 but was back near US$0.9950 at the US close. The Aussie dollar rose from near US67.80 cents to highs near US68.55 cents and was back near US68.08 cents at the US close. And the Japanese yen held between 139.94 yen per US dollar and JPY140.77 and was near JPY140.20 at the US close.
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Global oil prices rose by around 0.5% on Friday. The OPEC+ production group is expected to keep oil output quotas unchanged for October at today’s meeting. US jobs data supported oil prices. The Brent crude oil price rose by US66 cents or 0.7% to US$93.02 a barrel. And the US Nymex crude oil price rose by US26 cents or 0.3% to US$86.87 a barrel. Over the week Brent crude fell US$7.97 or 7.9% and Nymex crude fell US$6.19 or 6.7%.
Base metals were mixed on Friday. Zinc fell 4.5% but nickel rose 1.1% and copper rose 0.5%. Over the week metals fell 4.9-14.6%.
The gold futures price rose by US$13.30 an ounce or 0.8% to US$1,722.60 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,711 an ounce at the US close. Over the week gold fell US$27.20 or 1.6%. Iron ore futures slid US$1.05 or 1.1% to US$95.34 a tonne. Over the week iron ore fell US$10.04 or 9.5%.
Ahead: In Australia, the Melbourne Institute inflation gauge, ANZ job ads, S&P Global services and composite indexes, new vehicle sales, AiGroup construction activity gauge and business indicators data are all released. In China, the Caixin services index is due. In the US, financial markets are closed in observance of Labor Day.
Originally published by CommSec
