European Shares Set For Steady Open Before US Jobs Report

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open slightly higher on Friday as investors await the all-important monthly U.S. jobs report later in the day for direction.

The report may reinforce bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at the FOMC meeting on the 16th-17th this month.

Following dovish comments from Fed officials and a string of weak labor market readings, the probability of the Fed cutting rates by 0.25 percentage points at the meeting now stands at 99.4 percent, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Economists expect U.S. employment to increase by 75,000 jobs in August after an increase of 73,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate is seen inching up to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent.

In Europe, reports on German factory output and U.K. retail sales may influence trading sentiment as the day progresses.

Asian markets were mostly higher after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order officially putting into action the U.S.-Japan trade agreement, imposing 15 percent tariffs on nearly all Japanese imports and securing $550 billion in investment in the United States.

Regional gains, however, remained capped after Trump said that his administration would impose tariffs on semiconductor imports from firms not moving production to the United States.

"We will be putting a tariff very shortly," Trump said at a White House dinner with tech industry executives. "Not that high, but fairly substantial tariff."

The dollar retreated in Asian trading awhile gold held firm near $3,560 per ounce and headed for a third weekly gain on Fed rate cut bets.

Oil extended losses into a third session on concerns that OPEC+ may bolster supply at a meeting on Sunday.

Overnight, U.S. stocks bounced back after days of losses. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 1 percent as softer labor market data showing weaker than expected private sector job growth in August and a rise in applications for unemployment benefits to the highest since June fueled fresh hopes for a Federal Reserve rate cut this month.

The S&P 500 and the Dow both climbed around 0.8 percent to reach new record closing highs.

European stocks closed mostly higher on Thursday as recent bond market jitters subsided.

The pan European STOXX 600 gained 0.6 percent. The German DAX gained 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.4 percent while France's CAC 40 eased 0.3 percent.