Australia

Australian shares are expected to rise today despite a disappointing Friday for US indices. Economic data revealing the job market’s resilience dampened hopes that interest rates are reaching their peak.

ASX futures were up 12 points or 0.16% as of 8:00am on Saturday, pointing to a gain at the open.

US stocks fell Friday after the monthly jobs report beat expectations, stoking fears that interest rate increases may continue longer than expected.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6%, putting markets on course to end a busy week on a downcast note. The S&P 500 dropped 1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4%.

Stocks shot higher last week before retreating Friday as investors have parsed through a wave of central bank decisions, corporate earnings, and economic data. Friday brought fresh data on US hiring, giving investors more clues on how well the labor market is holding up as the economy slows elsewhere.

The latest monthly jobs report showed that nonfarm payrolls rose by 517,000 in January, significantly beating expectations. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected nonfarm payrolls to rise by 187,000 in January. The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.4%.

The jobs report drove a topsy-turvy trading session. Stocks dropped shortly after the report, then briefly turned positive before turning lower again.

The jobs data is the latest in a string of reports highlighting that the economy has been resilient. However, many investors have been focused on the pace of the Federal Reserve's interest rate increases, with some expecting that slower economic growth would lead the central bank to pull back on rate rises.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil dropped 2.91% to $US79.78 a barrel while gold lost 2.47% to US$1,865.47.

Australian government bond yields dipped lower, with the 2 Year declining to 2.98% and the 10 Year falling to 3.38%. US Treasury note yields also decreased, with the 2 Year dipping to 4.31% and the 10 Year declining to 3.53%.

The Australian dollar decreased to 69.28 US cents from its previous close of 70.75. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies, rose to 96.02.

Asia

Chinese shares ended lower, reversing recent gains fueled by China's reopening and the US Fed's slower pace of rate hikes. Insurance companies and property stocks weighed on the market. Ping An Insurance dropped 2.4% and China Vanke was 1.2% lower. Travel stocks and shares of airline companies were broadly lower, despite Beijing's announcement that cross-border travel between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau would fully resume next week and that quotas for travelers would be dropped. Shares of software and telecom companies were higher. iFlytek increased 2.3% and China Mobile was 1.6% higher. The Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.7% to 3263.41 and finished the week little changed. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 0.4% and the ChiNext Price Index was 0.85% lower.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 1.4% lower at 21660.47 amid a broad-based selloff, as the market pulled back from earlier gains following the Lunar New Year holiday. Sentiment toward Chinese equities has been weak recently, with the Hang Seng Index unable to find much upside despite the improved risk environment, IG market strategist Jun Rong Yeap said in a note. Among decliners were Country Garden Services, which closed 7.3% lower, Xinyi Glass Holdings, which declined 4.6%, and Ping An Insurance, which fell 4.1%. Gainers included Hang Lung Properties, which added 2.7%.

Japanese stocks ended higher, led by gains in tech and electronics shares, as strong results from several companies raised hopes for the earnings outlook. Sony Group gained 6.2% after its third-quarter net profit beat analysts' expectations. Z Holdings surged 12% after its nine-month net profit more than doubled on year. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.4% to 27509.46.

India's benchmark Sensex index extended early gains to close 1.5% higher at 60841.88 amid continued hopes for earnings growth and slower tightening by central banks. Financial stocks were higher, with HDFC Bank rising 3.5%, State Bank of India gaining 3.1% and IndusInd Bank adding 2.6%. The market will continue to keep tabs on Adani Group companies after the Indian conglomerate canceled a planned share sale to raise more than $2 billion.

Europe 

European stocks closed mostly higher, with the pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.3% at 460.77 after data showed that the US economy added 517,000 jobs in January, pushing the unemployment rate to a 53-year low of 3.4%. This also failed to dent expectations that US interest rates are nearing a peak, especially as average hourly earnings growth eased slightly. "The Fed is likely to treat the January jump in payrolls with some skepticism, given other indicators that point to an ongoing gradual softening in the labor market," said Daniel Vernazza, chief international economist at UniCredit in a note. In France, the CAC 40 gained 0.9% while Germany’s DAX lost 0.2%.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 index closed Friday up 1.04%, capping off a very positive week. The index has outperformed, hitting a record high in the afternoon, gaining as much as 1.1% to 7906.58 before closing at 7,901.8--just shy of the previous high of 7,903.5, set in 2018. The slide in the value of the pound appears to have helped with decent gains from big US dollar earners from health care and basic resources, with Shell PLC, Reckitt Benckiser PLC and AstraZeneca PLC underpinning the index's gains, CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson explained.

North America

US stocks fell Friday after the monthly jobs report beat expectations, stoking fears that interest rate increases may continue longer than expected.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6%, putting markets on course to end a busy week on a downcast note. The S&P 500 dropped 1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4%.

Stocks shot higher last week before retreating Friday as investors have parsed through a wave of central bank decisions, corporate earnings, and economic data. Friday brought fresh data on US hiring, giving investors more clues on how well the labor market is holding up as the economy slows elsewhere.

The latest monthly jobs report showed that nonfarm payrolls rose by 517,000 in January, significantly beating expectations. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected nonfarm payrolls to rise by 187,000 in January. The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.4%.

The jobs report drove a topsy-turvy trading session. Stocks dropped shortly after the report, then briefly turned positive before turning lower again.

The jobs data is the latest in a string of reports highlighting that the economy has been resilient. However, many investors have been focused on the pace of the Federal Reserve's interest rate increases, with some expecting that slower economic growth would lead the central bank to pull back on rate rises.

Expectations that the Fed and other central banks will soon reach the top of their interest rate cycles have fueled demand for riskier assets like stocks, emerging market assets, and bitcoin.

Earlier in the week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that the central bank will not be cutting interest rates. However, many investors clung to his comments on "disinflation," in which he said inflation is coming down because supply chain issues have been fixed.

He also highlighted the tight labor market, saying that so far, encouraging data on inflation has not come at the expense of the jobs market. His comments stoked a big midweek rally that continued Thursday.

The jobs report came after results from Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon late Thursday showed how the highflying trio are struggling with weakening demand.

The S&P 500 has risen 8.9% this year through Thursday's close, while the Nasdaq Composite has soared 17%.

Shares of tech and growth companies have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the stock market rally to start the year. The S&P 500's information technology sector has jumped around 14% this year, compared with a roughly 8% gain for the S&P 500 index.

Alphabet reported its first drop in advertising revenue since the beginning of the pandemic, while Amazon warned growth will slow in its online shopping and cloud businesses. Apple flagged lower sales of iPhones, Macs, and wearables.