Tech stocks gain ahead of US jobs report

European stocks tracked a tech-driven rally in Asia as investors awaited a critical US jobs report due later on Friday. The yen surged to a three-week high.

The Stoxx 600 rose 0.2%, with technology shares contributing most to the benchmark’s advance. US futures pointed to further strength on Wall Street after Apple Inc.’s better-than-estimated earnings. In Asia, Hong Kong stocks rose for a ninth straight session as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and JD.com Inc. touched fresh 2024 highs.

US non-farm payroll data becomes the next big trigger for markets after Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell effectively laid conversations about a potential rate hike to rest earlier in the week. The forecast gain of 240,000 jobs would be the weakest since November.

An index of the dollar weakened for a third day, while Treasuries were steady. The US 10-year yield is down about 8 basis points this week at 4.58%. 

A survey conducted by 22V Research shows that30% of the investors polled think Friday’s jobs report will be “risk-on,” 27% expect a “risk-off” reaction, and 43% said “mixed/negligible.” Among the labor indicators, the tally showed investors will be paying the most attention to average hourly earnings. 

“The markets will be hungry for any data suggesting the economy isn’t heating up any more than it did in the first quarter,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.

Corporate Highlights: 

• Societe Generale SA’s profit for the first quarter exceeded expectations, boosted by a strong showing from its equities traders, who outshone their bond counterparts for the fourth straight quarter.
• Credit Agricole SA also beat analysts’ estimate for net income with corporate and investment banking helping the French lender pull forward a target to reach annual adjusted profit of €6 billion ($6.4 billion) in 2024, a year ahead of schedule.
• Meanwhile, Danske Bank retained its full-year net income forecast after pre-tax profit beat analysts’ estimate boosted by its large corporates and institutions business.

The yen headed for its best week since December 2022. The currency has likely gotten official support, with estimates indicating Japan spent more than $20 billion in its latest round of intervention. 

Key events this week:

• Eurozone unemployment, Friday
• US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, ISM Services, Friday
• Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2% as of 8:32 a.m. London time
• S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%
• Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.4%
• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.7%
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.6%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
• The euro was little changed at $1.0730
• The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 153.19 per dollar
• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2038 per dollar
• The British pound was little changed at $1.2545

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 1% to $59,342.51
• Ether was little changed at $2,983.85

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.59%
• Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.54%
• Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.28%

Commodities

• Brent crude rose 0.5% to $84.07 a barrel
• Spot gold fell 0.2% to $2,300 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.