(News Bulletin 247) – Wall Street should open higher on Friday morning, driven by significant job creations which reflect the good health of the American economy.

Half an hour before the opening, the futures contracts on the major New York indices advanced from 0.5% to 0.7%, announcing a start to the session in the green.

The Labor Department announced that the US economy had created 253,000 non-farm jobs in April, a number well above expectations since the market was expecting around 160,000 new jobs.

The unemployment rate fell by 0.1 point to 3.4%, while the average hourly wage posted an annual increase of 4.4%, where the consensus gave it an increase of 4 .2%.

These data – which confirm the solidity of the labor market – confirm a priori the bet made this week by the Federal Reserve, namely that of a soft landing for the economy.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday he was able to ease the pace of inflation without hurting the growth potential of the United States too much.

Over the whole week, also marked by the end of hopes of a rate cut this year, the Dow has so far lost 2.8% while the Nasdaq has posted a weekly decline of 2.1%.

The dollar and yields accelerated their rise after the publication of the good employment figures, which timidly revived speculation on further rate hikes.

In the bond market, the US 10-year yield reacted to the strength of the average hourly wage by rising above 3.45%, after having sunk 3.30% yesterday.

The greenback is also rebounding, with the euro falling back below the 1.0980 threshold, with currency traders also focusing their attention on wages rather than job creation.

On the side of values, Apple, the world’s largest capitalization, rose 2.5% in pre-market quotations following the publication of quarterly results that exceeded forecasts, an increase somewhat slowed down by prospects considered relatively cautious.

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