MARKET UPDATE

European shares open higher with eyes on U.S. data

European shares opened higher on Friday, with investors awaiting U.S. non-farm payrolls data to make bets about central bank tightening, while also bracing for any change in stance from the European Central Bank at its meeting next week.

Broad-based gains saw the pan-European STOXX 600 index rise 0.4% by 0707 GMT, placing it on course to erase almost all its weekly losses.

Investors are hoping that any signs of a slowdown in the U.S. employment market could sway the Federal Reserve towards a less aggressive policy path.

 

Oil prices gain slightly as OPEC+ plan disappoints

Oil prices edged higher on Friday as markets shrugged off the decision of OPEC+ to increase production and questioned whether the incremental output would make up for lost Russian supply and meet China’s growing demand amid easing COVID restrictions.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 7 cents to $116.94 a barrel at 0640 GMT, while Brent crude futures were up 18 cents at $117.79 a barrel.

A decision on Thursday by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, to boost output by 648,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July and August, instead of by 432,000 bpd as previously agreed, was seen as hardly enough for a tight market.

 

Musk wants to cut 10% of Tesla jobs

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a “super bad feeling” about the economy and wants to cut about 10% of jobs at the electric carmaker, he said in an email to executives on Thursday seen by Reuters

The message came two days after the world’s richest man told employees to return to the workplace or leave the company.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) employed around 100,000 people at the end of 2021, according to its annual SEC filing.

Tesla was not immediately available for comment.

 

Stocks rise as investors await U.S. jobs data

Asian shares were mostly higher on Friday as investors hoped U.S. jobs data due later might sway the Federal Reserve to slow its current aggressive pace of interest rate hikes over the coming months.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.56%, riding a strong Wall Street close overnight. Japan’s Nikkei was up 1.2%, and shares in Seoul were up 0.46%, while Australia’s resource-heavy index was up 0.79%.

European STOXX 50 futures rose 0.76%.

Markets in China, Hong Kong and the UK are closed for public holidays.

Overnight, tech stocks led a rally on Wall Street, lifting the S&P500 1.84%, the Nasdaq Composite 2.68%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.29%.

On Thursday, the ADP National Employment Report showed U.S. payrolls rising at a slower-than-expected pace last month.

 

 

 

 

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