Spreadex Market Update

Markets remain edgy ahead of US non-farm jobs report



The markets remained a tad edgy this Friday as investors waited for the first non-farm jobs report since Fed chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish testimonies last week.

Currently the Dow Jones is facing a meagre 0.1% shift higher when the US session gets underway, a move that would take the index back above 24900. Of course it’s unlikely the Dow will stay quite as calm, with the non-farm figures coming before the bell rings on Wall Street.

Analysts are expecting February’s non-farm employment change to come in at 205k, a slight improvement on January’s 200k, with the unemployment rate forecast to fall to 4.0% for the first time in 17 years. Arguably more important than both of these numbers, however, is the average hourly earnings reading, given the emphasis Powell put on strengthening wage growth. Interestingly the figure is estimated to fall from 0.3% to 0.2% month-on-month, something that may leave the dollar facing a soft end to the week.

Elsewhere neither the FTSE nor the pound was particularly interested in the UK’s slew of data this Friday. The index nudged 0.1% higher while the currency saw minor growth against the dollar and euro, this despite a trio of disappointing goods trade balance, manufacturing and industrial production readings.

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