Global markets mostly gain after Wall Street tumbles following poor US jobs report

Globe and Mail

8 hours ago

BANGKOK (AP) — Global shares advanced Monday after Wall Street had its worst day since May following the release of weak U.S. jobs data.
France's CAC 40 added 0.8% in early trading to 7,609.44, while the German DAX rose nearly 1.0% to 23,702.42. Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.4% to 9,108.28. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures up 0.6% at 43,951.00. S&P 500 futures rose 0.6% to 6,302.75.
Markets in Asia had already reacted on Friday to U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement late Thursday of sweeping tariffs on imports from many U.S. trading partners. The new import duties are set to take effect on Thursday.
The signs of trouble on the U.S. economic horizon have raised hopes that the Federal Reserve may relent and cut interest rates, analysts said.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 1.3%, bouncing back from bigger losses earlier in the day to finish at 40,290.70.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 0.9% to 24,733.45, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed nearly 0.7% to 3,583.31.
In South Korea, the Kospi surged 0.9% to 3,147.75.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was nearly unchanged at 8,663.70.
Investors' worries about a weakening U.S. economy deepened after the latest report on job growth in the U.S. showed employers added just 73,000 jobs in July. That is sharply lower than economists expected. The Labor Department also reported that revisions shaved a stunning 258,000 jobs off May and June payrolls.
'The labor market, once a pillar of resilience, is now looking more like a late-cycle casualty, as soft data begin to replace soft landings in market discourse,' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Trump's decision to order the immediate firing of the head of the government agency that produces the monthly jobs figures raised concern over whether there might be interference in future data.
The surprisingly weak hiring numbers led investors to step up their expectations the Fed will cut interest rates in September.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.21% from 4.39% just before the hiring report was released. That's a big move for the bond market. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed actions, plunged to 3.68% from 3.94% just prior to the report's release.
The Fed has held rates steady since December. A cut in rates would give the job market and overall economy a boost, but it could also risk fueling inflation, which is hovering stubbornly above the central bank's 2% target.
An update on Thursday for the Fed's preferred measure of inflation showed that prices ticked higher in June, rising to 2.6% from 2.4% in May.
The Fed held rates steady again at its most recent meeting this week. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been pressured by Trump to cut the benchmark rate, though that decision isn't his to make alone, but belongs to the 12 members of the Federal Open Market Committee.
Businesses, investors and the Fed have been operating under a cloud of uncertainty from Trump's tariff policy.
Companies have been warning investors that unpredictable policies, with some tariffs already in effect while others change or get extended, make it difficult to plan ahead. Walmart, Procter & Gamble and many others also have warned about import taxes raising costs, eating into profits and raising prices for consumers.
In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 16 cents to $67.17 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 24 cents to $69.43 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 148.05 Japanese yen from 147.26 yen. The euro weakened to $1.1557 from $1.1598.