United States NFP Adds 178K Jobs in November

News Event

From Trading Economics: Non Farm Payrolls in the United States increased by 178 thousand in November of 2016, higher than downwardly revised 142 thousand in October and above market expectation of 175 thousand. Employment gains occurred in professional and business services and in health care. Non Farm Payrolls in the United States averaged 123.29 Thousand from 1939 until 2016, reaching an all time high of 1115.00 Thousand in September of 1983 and a record low of -1967.00 Thousand in September of 1945.

Market Opening Wrap

In European Equity Markets stocks extended their first weekly decline in a month as investors awaited Italy's referendum and U.S. jobs data gave a mixed picture of the economy to traders assessing prospects for higher interest rates. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.4 percent at the close. Italy's FTSE MIB Index reflected little panic in the run-up to Sunday's vote on constitutional reform, posting the best weekly performance among developed markets. The benchmark closed little changed on Friday, erasing a fall of as much as 1.2 percent.  Berkeley Group Holdings Plc jumped 8.5 percent after London's biggest homebuilder reported an increase in profit and set new five-year earnings targets.

In Currency Markets the dollar fell across the board on Friday after posting gains the last three weeks as a solid, but not spectacular, U.S. non-farm payrolls report spurred doubts about the path of rate increases next year. In mid-morning trade, the dollar index fell 0.3 percent to 100.77. Against the yen, the dollar fell 0.6 percent to 113.42 yen. The euro, on the other hand, was little changed against the dollar at $1.0661, ahead of the Italian referendum over the weekend. Sterling gained 0.44 percent to trade at $1.2649, just off the previous session's two-month peak of $1.2697. The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with Aussie up 0.50 percent at $0.7453 and with Kiwi climbing 0.65 percent to $0.7136.

In Commodities Markets  oil prices edged higher on Friday, steady above $51 a barrel, with Brent crude on track for its biggest weekly rally since 2009, following OPEC's decision to cut crude output in order to rein in a global glut.  Front-month Brent crude futures rose 18 cents to $54.12 a barrel, a 0.3 percent gain. The contract was up nearly 15 percent for the week, its biggest gain since early 2009. U.S. crude rose 27 cents to $51.33 per barrel and was on track for its biggest weekly gain since August 2015. In thin trade, spot gold rose by 0.3 percent to $1,174.88 an ounce. Silver fell by 0.7 percent to $16.37 an ounce while platinum rose 0.8 percent to $918. Palladium shed 1.7 percent to $737.78

In US Equity Markets  the S&P and the Nasdaq rose for the first time in three days, helped by gains in healthcare and consumer staples stocks, but the Dow was weighed down by Goldman Sachs. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.03 percent, at 19,185.67. The S&P 500 rose 0.24 percent, at 2,196.27 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.25 percent, at 5,264.32. Goldman Sachs fell for the first time in four days, weighing the most on the Dow. Starbucks fell 2.4 percent after the coffee chain operator said Howard Schultz would step down as chief executive officer. Pandora rose more than 10 percent after CNBC reported the internet radio company was in talks to sell itself to Sirius XM.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields eased from multi-month and multi-year highs on Friday as traders bought U.S. government bonds on the heels of their worst month in nearly eight years in anticipation of an Italian referendum, while the impact of U.S. jobs data was short-lived. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield was down 5 basis points at 2.387 percent and the German 10-year Bund yield fell 6 basis points to 0.293 percent.

Source: Institute of Trading and Portfolio Management