Equities mixed following disappointing US job report - 10.1.2022

The Dollar strengthening has resumed currently. 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, ended 0.5% lower on Friday after the Bureau of Labor Statistics report the US economy added only 199,000 new jobs last month, less than half of analysts' estimates.

Both GBP/USD and EUR/USD reversed their sliding Friday after the European Commission statistics office Eurostat report the headline inflation in euro zone ticked up to a new record high 5% for December. Both euro and Pound are lower against the Dollar currently. USD/JPY continued sliding Friday while AUD/USD reversed its retreating with yen lower against the Greenback currently and the Australian dollar higher still.

Futures on US equity benchmarks are mixed currently with 10-year US treasury yields down at 1.766%. US stocks slipped on Friday as 10-year US Treasury note yield rose further on Friday after the weak December non-farm payrolls report despite a bigger than expected drop in the unemployment rate to 3.9%. The three main US stock benchmarks recorded daily losses ranging from 0.01% to 0.96%.

European stock indexes are mixed currently after ending down on Friday led by travel and leisure shares. Asian indexes are mostly higher today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading gains in thin trading with Japanese markets closed for a holiday.

Brent is edging up currently. Prices retreated Friday, posting weekly gains however. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures lost 0.7% and is lower currently. Brent crude slipped 0.3% to $81.75 a barrel on Friday, posting however 5.2% weekly gain on supply concerns from the unrest in Kazakhstan and outages in Libya.