Stocks gain ahead of US jobs report

investmentnews.com:

Markets settled into a holding patterns ahead of Friday’s key US jobs data, with European stocks and American equity-index futures edging higher, Treasury yields flat and a gauge of the dollar steady.

Energy majors were among the gainers in the Stoxx Europe 600 index as crude oil headed for the biggest weekly advance since April. Miners outperformed as China’s latest stimulus measures boosted prices of some industrial metals. Car makers declined, with Renault SA and Volkswagen AG down more than 3% after being downgraded to sell by UBS Group AG on increasing competition from Asia. Aurubis AG slumped as much as 18% after Europe’s top copper producer said it faces large losses due to a massive metal theft.

Friday’s payrolls report may provide further evidence of slight cooling in the still-tight US labor market. The question is whether that will be enough to stall the Federal Reserve’s tightening cycle or even lead to early rate cuts. Meanwhile, hot price data, soft manufacturing figures and bearish comments from European Central Bank officials fueled concern the common-currency region may be heading for stagflation.

“Markets’ more cautious stance on risk assets is set to continue as the support from resilient US growth is increasingly offset by the need for high rates for longer,” said Thomas Hempell, Head of macro and market Research at Generali. “We still expect more economic pain to erode corporate margins, especially in the euro area, while elevated equity valuations look vulnerable to a correction.”

Elsewhere, China’s fresh efforts to rescue an ailing economy sent the MSCI Asia Pacific Index toward a second straight week of gains, the longest such streak since mid-June. The government will allow the nation’s largest