Australia

Australian shares are set to open higher, after US stocks rallied on labor-market data.

ASX futures were up 0.5% or 38 points as of 8:00am on Monday, suggesting a higher open.

A strong monthly jobs report rekindled a US stock-market rally that had languished in recent sessions, driving major indexes higher to cap a turbulent week.

The S&P 500 advanced 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 307 points, or 0.8%.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was up 0.6% to US$91.17 a barrel, while gold was up 1.7% at US$2,329.75.

In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds was down at 3.73% while the 10 Year yield was also down at 4.10%. US Treasury notes were up, with the 2 Year yield at 4.75% and the 10 Year yield at 4.40%.

The Australian dollar was 65.78 US cents. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies, was up at 98.90.

Asia

China markets were closed for the Ching Ming Festival public holiday.

Hong Kong shares closed flat, with the Hang Seng Index ending the day at 16723.92. The Hang Seng Tech Index fell 0.3%. Market sentiment was weighed by interest-rate uncertainty in the U.S. and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Among major stocks, WuXi AppTec dropped 5.5%, Wuxi Biologics was down 4.8% and Country Garden Services declined 4.25%. Gainers included Xinyi Solar, which added 4.6%, and HSBC, up 2.2%.

Japanese stocks ended lower, dragged by falls in brokerage and chip-related stocks, as hopes dim for an early Fed rate cut. Tokyo Electron Ltd. lost 5.6% and Daiwa Securities Group dropped 3.2%. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 2.0% to 38992.08. Investors are focusing on U.S. jobs data due later in the day. The 10-year Japanese government bond yield fell half a basis point to 0.770%.

India's Sensex closed flat at 74248.22, as gains in bank shares were offset by losses in some manufacturing-related stocks. The country's central bank held its policy repo rate steady at 6.50% in a widely expected decision. Inflation remains above the 4% target, the RBI governor said, keeping the forecast of 4.5% inflation for this fiscal year. Among the gainers, Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 2.1%, Bajaj Finserv gained 1.6% and HDFC Bank was 1.4% higher. Decliners included UltraTech Cement, which fell 1.8%, Larsen & Toubro, which lost 1.5%, and JSW Steel, which shed 0.7%.

Europe

European stocks fall after U.S. non-farm payrolls rose much more than expected in March, casting doubt on the prospect of near-term U.S. interest-rate cuts. The Stoxx Europe 600 closes down 0.8% at 506.55, its lowest close in 2 weeks, even as U.S. stocks rise. There are positives to be taken from signs of a strong U.S. economy, says Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG. "Once more the U.S. economy has demonstrated its overall strength, and while that continues to make a rate cut less likely, it does at least mean than Americans will keep spending," he says in a note. Germany's DAX index falls 1.2%, France's CAC 40 loses 1.1% while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 is down 0.8%.

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.8% at 7911 points on Friday following Wall Street drop last night. "After yesterday's yield driven gains in London, today has seen the reverse, though the FTSE 100 still looks in a good place to make further gains thanks to a rosier earnings outlook," Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, said. Ocado Group, St. James's Place and JD Sports Fashion were the session's biggest fallers, down 9.0%, 4.3% and 4.0%, respectively. Flutter Entertainment was the day's highest riser, up 1.1%, followed by BAE Systems and Smith & Nephew, up 1.0% and 0.9%, respectively.

North America

A strong monthly jobs report rekindled a stock-market rally that had languished in recent sessions, driving major indexes higher to cap a turbulent week.

The S&P 500 advanced 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 307 points, or 0.8%.

The gains were broad, with all 11 of the S&P 500's sectors rising to end the week.

Investors and analysts have been sifting through economic data for signs that the jobs market isn't quite as strong as it seems on the surface. This time around, investors said that key points in the monthly report all pointed toward labor-market strength: Job gains were higher than economists expected, the unemployment rate stayed low and average hourly earnings rose at the slowest pace since June 2021. The report kept hopes for a June interest rate cut alive.

Some investors said the latest report showed that the dream scenario for the economy, in which growth isn't too hot or too cold, remains intact. Bets that the U.S. economy will avoid a recession have propelled stock indexes to records to start the year.

"It's amazing to see the resilience of the U.S. labor market," said Mona Mahajan, principal and senior investment strategist at Edward Jones.

Mahajan said the latest data on wages, which showed that average hourly earnings grew at a year-over-year pace of 4.1%, indicated that inflation is gradually heading lower.

The jobs report reinvigorated a stock-market rally that had lost steam over the past week. In recent sessions, investors have been preoccupied with concerns about rising commodity prices, geopolitical tensions and the Federal Reserve's path to trimming interest rates.

These worries on Thursday sent the S&P 500 toward its worst one-day performance since February, and even Friday's gains didn't erase the weekly stock losses. The S&P 500 lost 1% for the week, its biggest such decline since early January. The blue-chip Dow shed 2.3%, and the Nasdaq lost 0.8%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped to 4.40% Friday, the highest level since November.

Some investors said that they are closely monitoring the path of oil prices. Brent crude futures have risen for four consecutive weeks and ended Friday at $91.17 a barrel. Rising prices at the pump could pressure U.S. consumers, who have so far kept spending despite higher interest rates.

"That carries risks on the inflation side and growth side," said Evan Brown, head of multi-asset strategy at UBS Asset Management, of rising oil prices. "It can squeeze consumers' real incomes if they're having to allocate more money to gasoline prices."

Shares of energy companies were among the stock market's biggest winners this week, with Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum adding 4.4% and 6.6%, respectively.

In corporate news, shares of Donald Trump's social-media company fell 12% Friday. They lost more than a third of their value for the week, continuing a series of frenetic moves for the stock-market's latest meme stock.

And a rough stretch for Tesla continued, with the shares slipping 6.2% for the week after the company said its quarterly deliveries fell for the first time since 2020.

Gold prices continued their stellar run. Some individuals have been putting bars of gold into their shopping carts at Costco to hedge against inflation, worried that prices are still too high. Front-month gold futures notched their biggest one-week percentage gain since October and finished the week at a record.