Commodities snapped two days of gains before a report forecast to show the U.S. isn’t adding jobs fast enough to cut the unemployment rate. The euro weakened, while stocks and equity-index futures were little changed.
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 raw materials slid 0.4 percent at 7:45 a.m. in New York, with copper falling 0.7 percent and oil dropping 0.8 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.1 percent and S&P 500 futures added less than 0.1 percent. The euro declined 0.5 percent to $1.2883 as the dollar strengthened against all but two of its 16 major counterparts.
Pedestrians are reflected in a window in front of an electronic stock board outside a securities firm in Tokyo. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Russell Jones, global head of fixed-income strategy at Westpac Banking Corp., talks about the outlook for today's U.S. October non-farm payrolls report and post-election fiscal policy. He speaks from Sydney with Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television's "First Look." (Source: Bloomberg)
While U.S. employers took on 125,000 workers in October, that wasn’t enough to keep the jobless rate from rising to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent, according to the median of 91 economist estimates in a Bloomberg survey before the Labor Department report today. Manufacturing output in the euro-area contracted in October, snapping two months of advances, London- based Markit Economics said.
“Employment lags the soft patch from which the U.S. economyappears now to be escaping,” Kit Juckes, head of foreign-exchange research at Societe Generale SA in London, said in an e-mail today. “The risk of disappointment leaves me nervous about sentiment into the weekend and in the final run-in to the presidential election next week.”
The S&P GSCI gauge of commodities is heading for the third weekly decline, the longest stretch since June 1. Oil in New York fell to $86.38 a barrel as two refineries remained shut in New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Alcatel-Lucent
The Stoxx 600 (SXXP) is up 1.3 percent this week. Beiersdorf AG, the maker of Nivea skin cream, rose 5.4 percent to the highest since at least 1996 as the company raised its forecast for sales growth and reported third-quarter profit that beat estimates. Alcatel-Lucent SA sank 5.6 percent today, the biggest drop in three weeks, after the French phone-equipment maker swung to a loss in the third quarter.
Greece’s ASE Index (ASE) rose 2.7 percent, trimming this week’s decline to 11 percent. The nation’s shares have tumbled as coalition government lawmakers squabble over austerity that a Bundesbank official warned must be enforced to ensure the country receives international bailout funds.
The cost of insuring against default on European corporate debt fell for a second day, with the Markit iTraxx Crossover index of credit-default swaps linked to 50 mostly junk-rated companies dropping 4.5 basis points.
LinkedIn Sales
The S&P 500 has advanced 1.1 percent this week after Hurricane Sandy shut U.S. markets on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30. LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) climbed 8.6 percent in early New York trading after the biggest professional-networking website reported third-quarter sales that exceeded analysts’ forecasts. Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop operator, advanced 7.6 percent as fourth-quarter profit topped estimates.
Today’s announcement by the Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. in Washington will be the last of the monthly employment reports before Barack Obama and Mitt Romney face off in the Nov. 6 presidential election.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was little changed at 1.72 percent, declining three basis points this week.
The dollar advanced 0.2 percent against the yen, while the euro weakened 0.4 percent versus Japan’s currency.
Manufacturing Falls
A gauge of manufacturing in the euro area fell to 45.4 from 46.1 in September, Markit Economics said. That compares with an initial estimate of 45.3 published on Oct. 24. A reading below 50 indicates contraction.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) advanced 0.5 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies added 1.2 percent, up 20 percent from a Sept. 5 low, marking the start of a bull market. The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) rose 0.6 percent today, India’s Sensex index climbed 1 percent and Russia’s Micex Index gained 0.2 percent.
South Korea’s Kospi index jumped 1.1 percent as Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the world’s second-large shipbuilder, rallied the most in eight months on better-than-estimated profit.
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