Wall Street has rebounded after a week of wild swings, with investors buying up battered shares.
Key points:
- The Dow Jones index rose 1.9pc to 34,678, the S&P 500 rose 1.6pc to 4,585, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8pc to 15,381
- The FTSE 100 in London fell 0.6pc to 7,129, the DAX in Germany fell 1.4pc to 15,263, and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 1.3pc to 6,796.
- The ASX SPI 200 rose 0.9pc to 7,283, while the Australian dollar fell 0.2pc to around 70.91 US cents
The Australian market is set to follow suit, with the futures index, the ASX SPI 200, up 0.9 per cent to 7,283.
Meantime, the Australian dollar was down 0.2 per cent to about 70.91 US cents at 7:10am AEDT.
It fell to 70.64 US cents this week.
US shares rallied, with aircraft maker Boeing surging after saying it had made progress in getting Chinese approval of its 737 MAX plane.
China’s aviation authority has issued an airworthiness directive on the aircraft that will help pave the way for the 737 MAX’s return to service in China after two and a half years.
China’s aviation regulator was the first to ground the aircraft in 2019 after two deadly crashes.
The market recovered ground lost yesterday, which saw a steep sell-off in the last hour of trade on worries about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and the upcoming withdrawal of stimulus by the US central bank.
Value stocks, economically sensitive smaller stocks and transport firms did the best, with travel and hospitality stocks also bouncing back.
“Second, economic data, particularly labour data, is coming out on the strong side.”
At 7:10am AEDT, the Dow Jones index was up 1.9 per cent or 651 points to 34,678, the S&P 500 rose 1.6 per cent to 4,585, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8 per cent to 15,381.
Jobless claims fall
New claims for unemployment benefits increased less than expected last week and lay-offs fell to the lowest level in more than 28 years.
Claims rose by 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000 for the ending November 27.
They dropped in the week before to 194,000, the lowest since 1969.
That probably indicates people have found work in a tight labour market or exhausted their benefits.
A US Chamber of Commerce survey showed many Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic had not returned to work.
There were 10.4 million job openings at the end of September.
The total number of people receiving unemployment benefits was 2.31 million in mid-November.
Investors will now turn to the latest official US unemployment figures, which are out tonight.
Economists expect non-farm payrolls to have increased by 550,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate is expected to have fallen from 4.6 per cent to 4.5 per cent.
European stocks
European shares lost ground as countries ramped up restrictions to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.
The FTSE 100 in London fell 0.6 per cent to 7,129, the DAX in Germany fell 1.4 per cent to 15,263, and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 1.3 per cent to 6,796.
Oil prices are higher, with Brent Crude up 1.9 per cent to $US70.17 a barrel, while spot gold has fallen 0.8 per cent to $US1,767.79 an ounce.
OPEC and other major oil producers maintained their regular oil production increase of 400,000 barrels a day at a meeting overnight.