Market Drivers – European Session 2/9/2022

Nonfarm Payrolls in the US rose by 315,000 in August, the data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed on Friday. This reading followed July’s increase of 526,000 (revised from 528,000) and slightly better than the market expectation of 300,000.

Further details of the publication revealed that the Unemployment Rate rose to 3.7% from 3.5%. The annual wage inflation, as measured by the Average Hourly Earnings, stayed unchanged at 5.2%, compared to the market expectation of 5.3%. Finally, the Labor Force Participation Rate improved to 62.4% from 62.1% in July.

Oil prices rose Friday, September 2 on expectations that the OPEC + cartel will discuss production cuts at a meeting on September 5, but concerns about restrictions to combat Covid-19 in China and the weakness of the global economy continued to limit the gains.

Brent crude futures rose 1.7% to $93.94 by 1 pm GMT.

Futures rose 1.84% to $88.20.

And crude contracts fell 3% in the previous session, to their lowest level in two weeks. Brent crude is heading towards a weekly decline of about 7%, and WTI is heading towards a decline of about 5% during the week.

US stock markets rose at the open on Friday, after data showed a stronger-than-expected rise in jobs in August, but slowing wage increases and rising unemployment eased some inflation concerns.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 192.08 points, or 0.61 percent, to 31,848.50 points.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index increased by 27.81 points, or 0.70 percent, to 3,994.66 points.

The Nasdaq Composite Index started trading with an increase of 114.01 points, or 0.97 percent, to 11,899.14.