By Connor Campbell, Financial Analyst, Spreadex
There was not a lot going on this Friday morning, investors sitting on their hands until this afternoon’s non-farm jobs report.
The FTSE couldn’t get out of the red, even if it was only down by 0.1%. Sterling was a bit livelier, but not by much, recovering 0.2% against the dollar and 0.1% against the euro. Elsewhere Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) halved its early gains to 1.8%, while Pearson (LON:PSON) went from a 3% rise to a 1% loss as investors digested news of its latest round of jobs cuts.
In the eurozone the situation was broadly similarly. The DAX nudged 0.1% higher while the CAC sat flat at 5135. As for the euro itself, though it only rose 0.1% against the greenback, that keeps it at its best price since the start of 2015.
So, what’s in store for the Dow Jones and dollar this afternoon? Analysts are expecting the headline non-farm figure to shrink from 222k to 182k month-on-month, but with the unemployment rate falling back to 4.3%. Wage growth, meanwhile, is set to remain rather flaccid, with forecasts of a 0.3% increase in July compared to the 0.2% jump in June. If accurate – and remember, those non-farm estimates have a tendency to be way off base – it could be another difficult day for the dollar, continuing the currency’s summer from hell.
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