Stock markets around the world have been steady overnight as Chinese traders returned from Lunar New Year holidays. US index futures and the Dax are up marginally while the FTSE is up 0.5% as GBP retreats.
The main event Friday is the US nonfarm payrolls report which could spark another round of Fed speculation trading in USD and stocks. The greenback has stabilized overnight after retreating for the better part of two days following Wednesday’s dovish FOMC statement. The US central bank indicated it still sees inflation as low and room for employment to grow without sparking inflation.
Earlier this week, ADP posted a stellar private sector payrolls report of 246K jobs way above the 165K the street had expected. January was a month of turmoil in government jobs ending in a federal hiring freeze. Still, I think that that the new year unleashed another round of pent up hiring demand and am thinking 225K jobs plus a 20K upward revision to last month.
The response to overnight earnings reports has been mixed. Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell 4% following a mixed report that saw earnings beat the street but sales results and guidance fall short of expectations. Visa (NYSE:V) and Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) have been trading higher following results. US financials, particularly banks and brokerages could be active today. President Trump has financial regulation in his sights and is expected to issue orders starting the overhaul of the Dodd-Frank response to the last financial crisis and block fiduciary rules that were expected to start this spring.
Service PMI reports are also in focus today. So far the biggest impact has been in the UK where a soft report has piled more pressure on the pound taking It under $1.2500 against the US dollar. US ISM non-manufacturing PMI is due at 10:00 am EST.