NEW YORK, Nov 5 — Global shares rose yesterday and the US dollar fell, after jobs data came in stronger than expected but also hinted at some slack in the tight American labour market, raising hopes the Federal Reserve might ease up on monetary tightening.
Data from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics showed the economy generated 261,000 jobs in October. That was higher than an estimate of 200,000, according to a Reuters poll of economists, but it also showed unemployment rising to 3.7 per cent from 3.5 per cent in September while wage inflation dropped to 4.7 per cent from 5 per cent in the prior month.
“We definitely are seeing some early signs of pricing pressure coming down,” said Tom Plumb, portfolio manager at Plumb Balanced Fund in Madison, Wisconsin.
The MSCI index of global shares, which tracks equities in 50 countries, broke two straight days of losses and was up 1.72 per cent. European stocks also rallied 1.81 per cent, a day after falling on rate hikes from the Bank of England and the Fed.
Wall Street’s three major stock indexes closed higher, driven by technology, financials, consumer discretionary, communication services, and industrials.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.26 per cent to 32,403.22, the S&P 500 gained 1.36 per cent to 3,770.55 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.28 per cent to 10,475.25.
Benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields rose, with the notes at 4.1626 per cent.
“Even though the Fed would not talk about a pivot or anything like that, I think the market is expecting them to remain data dependent and in the next six months you’re going to see significant cracks in the pricing pressure,” Plumb said.
The US dollar slumped after the employment report. The dollar index fell 1.90 per cent, while the euro was up 2.1 per cent to US$0.9956.
Safe-haven gold jumped more than 2 per cent as the dollar fell. Spot gold added 3.1 per cent to US$1,680.33 (RM7,978.21) an ounce, while US gold futures GCc1 gained 2.90 per cent to US$1,672.50 an ounce.
Oil prices rose by 5 per cent amid the looming European Union ban on Russian oil and as investors weighed the implications of China’s easing of Covid restrictions. Brent crude futures settled up 5 per cent at US$98.57 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 4.98 per cent to US$92.56 per barrel. — Reuters
