LONDON – Global shares largely held their ground on Friday after nerves steadied on Wall Street while investors waited to see if US payroll numbers alters the pace of interest rate hikes expected from the Federal Reserve this year.
Oil was headed for its best weekly gains since mid-December, fuelled by supply worries amid escalating unrest in Kazakhstan, where an Internet shutdown hitting global computing power of the bitcoin network helped to send the cryptocurrency tumbling to its lowest level since September.
The MSCI All Country stock index was flat at 744.71 points, also down 2% from a record high on Tuesday.
In Europe, the STOXX index was off 0.5% at 485 points, down 2% from its record high on Tuesday. Key euro zone inflation data was due at 10:00 GMT.
The stellar start to 2022 went into reverse on Wednesday after minutes from the Fed’s December meeting signalled the central bank may have to raise interest rates sooner than expected.
Some Fed policymakers also want to shrink the central bank’s $8 trillion-plus balance sheet as well as raise rates, the minutes showed.
Wall Street steadied by Thursday evening, though analysts at ING bank said the minutes were still reverberating across markets, driving bond yields higher, hitting growth stocks and keeping the dollar reasonably well-supported.
“We have non-farm payrolls today and will that have an effect on rate hike expectations? I don’t think it will”, said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
“The Fed is on a course to start gradual, incremental rate increases and the key question will be how many the markets will allow them to get away with and a lot of that will be down to guidance.”
Non-farm payrolls likely increased by 400,000 jobs last month after rising 210,000 in November, according to a Reuters survey of economists.
Goldman Sachs said its expects an above consensus rise of 500,000.
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