Markets rising after strong US jobs report - 3.7.2020

The Dollar strengthening has halted today with US financial markets closed to observe the July Fourth holiday which falls on Saturday this year. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, added 0.1% Thursday as US Labor Department data showed that the US added back 4.8 million jobs in June when a gain of 3.7 million jobs was expected. Both GBP/USD and EUR/USD reversed their climbing yesterday despite Eurostat unemployment ticked up to 7.4% in May instead of forecast 7.6% from 7.3% in April. USD/JPY’s joined AUD/USD’s continued climbing yesterday with both yen and Australian dollar higher currently against the greenback.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are edging higher currently after a nudge higher Thursday. The three main US stock indexes recorded gains ranging from 0.4% to 0.5% as data showed new applications for jobless benefits continued to slow, falling to 1.43 million in the seven days ended June 27 from 1.48 million in the prior week. European stock indexes are extending gains today after ending solidly higher Thursday led by banking stocks. Asian indexes are all higher today led by Shanghai Composite .

Brent is edging lower today. Oil prices advanced for a second session yesterday buoyed by better than expected US job growth in June. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures ended solidly higher yesterday: August WTI rose 2.1% but is lower currently. August Brent crude closed 2.6% higher at $43.14 a barrel on Thursday.