4th Sep 2026 06:54
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open slightly higher on Friday, building on a solid advance on Thursday, as eyes turn to a US jobs report.
In Asia, stocks were on the up. Softer yields on the back of remarks from a US policymaker, which boosted equity markets in Europe on Thursday, lifted sentiment in Asia also.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 7.9 points higher, 0.1%, at 10,839.42 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 75.07 points, 0.7%, at 10,831.52 on Thursday.
Sterling traded at USD1.3533 early Friday, down slightly from USD1.3536 at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. Against the euro, it bought EUR1.1634, down from EUR1.1646.
The single currency was steady against the dollar at USD1.1626. Versus the yen, the buck advanced to JPY156.35 from JPY155.54. It had traded as low as JPY155.30 on Thursday on intervention chatter.
Focus on Friday will be on the US jobs report at 1330 BST.
XTB analyst Kathleen Brooks commented: "Investors will be watching these numbers closely to see what they mean for the Fed's future monetary policy decisions. Full employment is one half of the Federal Reserve's mandate, although new chair Kevin Warsh is mostly focused on inflation. It is reasonable that Kevin Warsh is not as focused on the labour market, if the unemployment rate remains at 4.1% this is below the rate that indicates full employment, so the Fed does not need to act to boost the jobs market. Due to this, although the NFP report is important for investors, we think that the CPI reading for August, which is released on September 11th, will give a clearer signal of whether the Fed will raise interest rates later this month."
According to consensus cited by FXStreet, Friday's official data is expected to show the US added 58,000 jobs in August, after shedding 23,000 in July.
The jobs report comes ahead of next week's US inflation data. Ahead of that, US Federal Reserve Governor Chris Waller said he would be prepared to vote for an interest rate hike at the central bank's next meeting in mid-September if data showed inflation having accelerated.
"My decision on the appropriate stance of policy will be heavily influenced by what we learn about August inflation," Waller told Reuters.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.76% early Friday, widening slightly from 4.75% at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury stretched to 5.24% from 5.23%.
Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented: "It took a comment from the Federal Reserve's Christopher Waller to send short-term yields down and equities up yesterday. Waller said that he would choose not to raise rates at this month's FOMC meeting if inflation continues to progress towards the Fed's 2% goal. The decision will be 'heavily influenced' by August inflation data, due next week. It's just that with the recent spike in energy prices, there is a chance that the data says 'we need a hike'."
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.2%, the S&P 500 up 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.4%.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was up 1.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.2% higher, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong jumped 1.8%. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 was flat.
An ounce of gold traded at USD4,471.81, down from USD4,506.91 late Thursday. Brent fell to USD95.56 a barrel from USD96.83.
Friday's global economic calendar has the US jobs report, Canada unemployment data, eurozone retail figures and a batch of construction PMI surveys, including the UK at 0930 BST.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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