Global stocks index flat, Dollar falls on mixed U.S. jobs data
By Sinéad Carew
NEW YORK (Reuters) — MSCI's global equity index ended Friday's session virtually unchanged while the dollar was lower as government data showed that U.S. jobs growth slowed more than expected in June, easing worries about the outlook for Federal Reserve rate hikes.
But while investors appeared to hold out hope for a less hawkish Fed, they were also looking cautiously to the week ahead, with key U.S. inflation readings due along with the start of the second-quarter earnings season.
Official U.S. nonfarm payrolls on Friday showed employers added 209,000 new hires in June, below forecasts, while May numbers were revised down by 33,000 to 306,000. Still, the unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in June from 3.7% in May and average hourly earnings rose 0.4%, the same as May.
On Thursday, private payroll provider ADP's strong U.S. labor market data had sparked an equities sell-off and boosted Treasury yields.
While Friday's government data was initially met with a more muted market reaction, stocks gained some ground during the session before losing ground again in afternoon trading.
«Investors are more cautious going into a very important week with the beginning of earnings season and a very important inflation reading mid week,» said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist, LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Earlier in the session traders appeared relieved that payrolls came in «much lower than feared, based on the ADP report,» said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, adding that investors may have concluded that they «over-reacted» on Thursday.
«Investors still have a bullish mindset and are using near-term weakness as a buying opportunity,» Stovall added.
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