Europe was largely quiet this Friday morning, hesitant to do too much until this afternoon’s US nonfarm payroll numbers have been revealed.
The markets did still err on the positive side, however. The FTSE held above 6,500 as it edged 0.2% higher, while the DAX was at a near one-month peak of 14,060.
Only the CAC pulled away after the bell, jumping 0.9% to 5,650. This as Emmanuel Macron stated that a lockdown in France would be the ‘last resort’, despite the spread of new variants of covid-19 in the country.
Looking ahead and the Dow Jones is keeping its cards close to its chest, the futures forecasting a 0.2% increase when trading gets underway stateside.
Of course, the Dow’s performance could be far from that by the time the opening bell actually rings, dependent on what happens with the nonfarm jobs report.
Analysts are expecting a recovery from December’s 2020-ending contraction in the jobs market, with the addition of 85,000 jobs pencilled in following a strong ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) figure mid-week. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, is set to hold steady at 6.7% for the 3rd consecutive month, but with average hourly earnings growth dropping from 0.8% to 0.3% month-on-month.
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