Futures Steady Ahead Of US Jobs Data Tariff Reprieve

European stocks head for 7th weekly gain


Yen at two-month high up on rate trek bets


Gold constant near record peak


By Amanda Cooper


LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) -


U.S. stock futures steadied on Friday ahead of U.S. payrolls data, with financiers meticulously optimistic that the world might avoid a full-on trade war, while the prospect of more rate hikes in Japan this year briefly sent the yen towards two-month highs.


In a week that started with U.S. President Donald Trump beginning a trade war and whipping up market volatility, investors have actually watched out for making any significant moves, given that he followed through on his risk to enforce duties on China while granting Mexico and Canada a one-month reprieve.


The necessary U.S. jobs report for January is due ahead of the Wall Street open. Economists anticipate to see 170,000 workers added to nonfarm payrolls last month, however provided the potential distortions from spells of winter and the California wildfires, the series of projections is wide.


"The focus for the monetary markets in current weeks has been quite on Trump and his economic policies, in particular on trade, but today there is the potential for the jobs information to influence Fed rate expectations," Derek Halpenny, a currency strategist at MUFG, said.


"A pretty big divergence from the agreement is still most likely required to shift expectations significantly but extreme weather at this time of the year has in the past led to sharply weaker NFP readings and weather condition could impact today ´ s report," he said.


Futures on the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were trading mainly constant on the day, while shares of


Amazon


slipped in premarket trading on the back of


weak point


in the retailer's cloud unit.


In Europe, the STOXX 600 headed for a seventh straight week of gains, trading flat on the day after having actually hit record highs earlier this week, following a wave of strong revenues from the likes of Danish weight-loss drugmaker Novo Nordisk, German software application company SAP and French lending institution BNP Paribas.


European stocks have actually staged their best efficiency in a years against Wall Street in the very first 6 weeks of 2025, however the focus is now on whether those gains can be sustained.


On the Asian market, tech stocks staged a rally, powered by Chinese retail financiers, who have caught the AI style in the wake of home-grown start-up DeepSeek's advancement.


DELICATE CHINA


Beijing's apparently determined action to Trump's tariffs has left room for settlements, analysts say, which has helped repair investor belief.


China's blue-chip stock index closed up 1.3% after touching a one-month high.


"Whilst there is substantial noise and uncertainty, we do not see escalating trade tensions as a game changer in the prospects for the Chinese market," said James Cook, investment director for emerging markets at Federated Hermes.


Markets are pricing in 43 basis points of alleviating this year from the Fed, with a rate cut in July totally priced in, as policymakers remain in no hurry to start the rate-cutting cycle again.


The dollar edged up 0.1% against a basket of currencies, having rallied 7% last year, as investors priced in a far more aggressive policy stance from the Fed this year, where rate cuts may be rare.


Other main banks are cutting interest rates, while the Bank of Japan is tailoring up for a minimum of another rate hike this year. Strong wage growth information has actually beefed up the chances of tighter financial policy, which has pushed the yen to two-month highs against the dollar.


The yen touched 150.96 per dollar over night, its greatest level given that December 10, wiki.myamens.com before reducing to leave the dollar up 0.4% on the day at 152.155.


Sterling reversed earlier losses to rise 0.1% to $1.2449, having dropped 0.5% on Thursday as the BoE cut rates of interest and slashed its 2025 UK development projection.


In commodities, oil edged up, while gold steadied above $2,800 an ounce, near to tape-record highs.


(Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; extra reporting by Stephen Culp, Marc Jones and Alun John; modifying by Shri Navaratnam, Sam Holmes, and Angus MacSwan)