LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. stock futures and European shares rose and the dollar climbed on Friday after monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls data showed the United States’s jobs market remained on a strong footing.
Non-farm payrolls increased 257,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. Data for November and December was revised to show a whopping 147,000 more jobs created than previously reported, bolstering views consumers will have enough muscle to carry the economy through rough seas.
Markets reacted positively, with U.S. stocks futures <SPc1><DJc1><NDc1> extending their modest pre-release gains, while the dollar <.DXY> rose, in line with U.S. government bond yields <US10YT=RR> which climbed to 1.87 pct.
“The figures are very solid, and there’s a slight rise in wages, that’s new,” Saxo Bank trader Pierre Martin said.
“But the data is not strong enough to totally change exceptions about the outlook for the Fed’s interest rate hike, although the fact that stocks are not spiking on the news shows that people remain cautious.”
Oil, which is on course for a near 20 percent rise since last Friday, rose on the news. Benchmark Brent crude futures <LCOc1> were $ 1.85 higher on the day at $ 58.42 a barrel and U.S. crude <CLc1> was also up $ 1.62 at $ 52.10 a barrel.
Gold <XAU=> fell 1 percent to a session low of $ 1,251.40 an once.
(Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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