U.S. and European futures both declined on Friday as investors brace for the latest round of US jobs data later in the day. This data is expected to be critical in investors’ forecasts for the timing and pace of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts once introduced.
In Europe, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.6%, while in New York, futures on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 0.2%. Contracts listed on the Nasdaq 100 fell by 0.2%. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index remained relatively unchanged.
Friday’s nonfarm payrolls are expected to show strong figures, thus suggesting that markets have been overconfident when it comes to expecting Fed rate cuts, with investors broadly betting on a rate cut as soon as March. “In the lead-up to the upcoming US job numbers, sentiment is back to wait-and-see,” Jun Rong Yeap, a strategist at IG Asia observed, suggesting that investors have learned of their excessive optimism. “We may have to see a substantial weakening of the US labor market to justify market pricing of a rate cut as early as March.”