TOKYO (Reuters) – Global stock prices rose 1 1/2 months on Monday, according to data showing an increase in US employment, while US bonds were subject to concern, the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates faster than indicated.
US S & P500 futures traded 0.5% higher, maintaining gains during a truncated session on Friday, although heavy-tech Nasdaq futures lagged behind, trading almost flat.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei rose 0.8%, while the widest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan was almost flat, with China closed for Tomb-Sweeping Day and Australia on Easter Monday.
The global index of all MSCI countries was almost flat, but approached the highest level at the end of February and in view of a record level recorded in that month.
The U.S. Department of Labor said Friday that non-farm payrolls rose 916,000 jobs last month, the highest gain since last August.
This was well above the average forecasts of 647,000 economists and was closer to the whispered number of markets of one million. Data for February were also revised higher to show 468,000 jobs created instead of the 379,000 previously reported.
“There will be further improvements in April, as restaurants have begun to reopen. People expected economic normalization to happen sooner or later, but the pace seems to be accelerating, “said Koichi Fujishiro, a senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research.
While employment remains below its peak of 8.4 million jobs in February 2020, an accelerated recovery has raised hopes that all jobs lost during the pandemic could be recovered by the end of next year.
In turn, the prospect of a full job return raises questions about whether the Fed can keep its promise to maintain interest rates until 2023.
Markets have strong doubts, with futures contracts on Fed funds with full prices in a rate hike until the end of next year.
Many market players are also expecting the Fed to consider reducing bond purchases this year, even though Fed officials said they have not yet discussed the issue.
“It will be impossible for the Fed to avoid discussing the downturn until the fall,” said Kozo Koide, chief economist at Asset Management One, noting that US President Joe Biden’s infrastructure spending plan is likely to be adopted by then. .
The two-year US Treasury yield rose to 0.186%, close to the eight-month high of 0.194% reached at the end of February.
Yields on older bonds also rose 10-year to 1.725% in Asia, extending the growth that began on Friday after the job report.
Strong job data helped substantiate the dollar.
The dollar traded at 110.57 yen, not far from a high of 110.97 on Wednesday. The euro amounted to $ 1.1767.
Gold fell 0.4% to $ 1,724.70.
In cryptocurrencies, ether fell 1.7% to $ 2,040.21 from Friday’s record high of $ 2,144.99. Bitcoin fell 0.9% to $ 57,704.
Oil prices fell after OPEC + agreed last week to gradually ease some of its production cuts between May and July.
Gross US futures fell 0.6% to $ 61.09 a barrel.
Reported by Hideyuki Sano, edited by Gerry Doyle