Global stock markets rise as US jobs data eases recession concerns

Wall Street also boosted by Apple, which beat revenue estimates thanks to iPhone sales

A business in Miami, Florida, looks for staff, as employers across the US hired more workers in April. AFP

Global stock markets posted gains at the close of trade on Friday, as US jobs data eased concerns about the danger of recession in the world's biggest economy.

Wall Street, in particular, had a double dose of confidence as technology bellwether Apple beat revenue estimates thanks to healthy sales of its flagship iPhone, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its best single-day percentage gain in four months.

Employers in the US hired more workers in April, with non-farm payrolls rising by 253,000 last month, the Labour Department's employment report showed on Friday.

That was well above the 180,000 consensus forecast from a survey of analysts conducted by Reuters.

The US unemployment rate inched down to 3.4 per cent in April, from 3.5 per cent the month before. March data was also revised lower to 165,000 jobs, from a previous figure of 236,000.

Apple, meanwhile, said this week that revenue hit $94.8 billion in its fiscal second quarter. Although that was down 2.5 per cent annually, it still beat analyst estimates of $92.6 billion and the company's projection of a 5 per cent decline.

That sent the California-based company's stock surging, closing up nearly 4.7 per cent on Friday.

April's jobs data suggests a resilient labour market despite the Federal Reserve's consecutive interest rate rises. However, this could also lead the US central bank to keep high interest rates for longer.

“Non-farm payrolls rising over March’s figures — and beating estimates for a 13th consecutive month — shows that the US job market continues to resist the tightened fiscal policy from the Federal Reserve,” said Srijan Katyal, global head of strategy and trading services at Abu Dhabi-based brokerage ADSS.

“Although a cut to interest rates is almost completely off the table at the Fed’s next FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] meeting, this stronger-than-expected data may give cause to push forward with another limited 25-basis-point rise before pausing interest rate raises.”

On Wall Street, the Dow rose 1.65 per cent, its biggest daily rise since January 6, at the close of trading. The S&P 500 added 1.85 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 2.25 per cent.

The Fed this week raised interest rates for the 10th time since 2022. The resilient US jobs market, however, does not mean another rate rise is a certainty when the Fed meets again in July, said Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee.

“We know that credit conditions like the ones we are seeing now in the past have been correlated with recessions, credit crunches. It's way too premature to know what to do with monetary policy,” he told Fox News on Friday.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 settled 1 per cent higher, Frankfurt's DAX rose 1.4 per cent, and Paris's CAC-40 added 1.3 per cent.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed 0.5 per cent higher, boosted by technology and property stocks. The Tokyo bourse was closed for a holiday.

The Shanghai Composite, meanwhile, retreated 0.5 per cent, as investors were concerned about the uneven economic recovery in China, which is still emerging from its strict Covid lockdowns.

In commodities, oil prices closed sharply higher on Friday but still posted a third consecutive week of losses on signs of weakening global crude demand.

Brent surged 3.86 per cent, or $2.80, to settle at $75.30 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate jumped up 4.05 per cent, or $2.78, to close at $71.34 a barrel.

For the week, however, Brent lost 5.3 per cent, while WTI slipped 7.1 per cent.

Gold, meanwhile, added about 1.6 per cent, or $30.90, to settle at $2,024.80 an ounce.

Demand for the precious metal, used as a hedge against inflation, rose by 18 per cent in 2022 to an 11-year high of 4,741 tonnes, driven by retail investors and central banks shoring up their bullion reserves, the World Gold Council previously reported.