Australia

Australian shares are set to open higher, after U.S. stocks rose on positive jobs news.

ASX futures were up 1.06% or 81 points as of 8:00am on Friday, suggesting a higher open.

In the US, the S&P 500 posted its best day in nearly two years after a better-than-expected jobless claims report helped ease fears that the labor market is weakening.

The S&P 500 closed up 2.3%, its biggest single-day gain since November 2022. The Nasdaq jumped 2.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.8%, or 683.04 points, higher.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was up 1.1% to US$79.16 a barrel, while gold was down 0.1% at US$2,425.70.

The Australian dollar was at 65.89 US cents, down from its previous close of 65.91.

Asia

Chinese shares closed broadly lower, dragged by shipping and auto stocks. Chongqing Changan Automobile shares dropped 2.95% and Ningbo Deye Technology fell 2.2%. China Merchants Energy Shipping and Cosco Shipping declined 3.6% and 3.5%, respectively. Meanwhile, the property sector gained amid positive sentiment after Shenzhen announced a citywide program to buy up unsold housing inventories and turn them into public housing. China Vanke closed 1.9% higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended flat at 2,869.90, the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 0.1% to 1564.26 and the ChiNext Price Index closed 0.5% lower.

Hong Kong shares ended slightly higher, with the Hang Seng Index rising 0.1% to 16,891.83. Market sentiment remains cautious, and investors are watching for U.S. data, including weekly jobless claims due later today. Among top gainers, Techtronic Industries added 3.1% and Sunny Optical Technology rose 3.1%. Meanwhile, Trip.com fell 3.5% and Meituan dropped 1.3%. The Hang Seng Tech Index slid 0.5% to 3,366.68.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.7% to close at 34,831.15 after swinging between gains and losses. The U.S. stock markets' slide following a weak sale of Treasurys on Wednesday underscores the fragility of global financial markets, says Vasu Menon, managing director of Investment Strategy at OCBC, in an email. Among the worst performers on the benchmark index, personal care product company Shiseido plunged 15.5% after it posted a 1H operating loss while peer Kose Corp. slumped 11.3%. Tech names such as Fujitsu and Ibiden slipped 5.3% and 6.0%, respectively. The 10-year JGB yield was down 4bps at 0.835%.

India's Sensex closed 0.7% lower at 78,886.22, weighed by manufacturing and utility stocks. Sentiment stays cautious as investors remain on edge after a global selloff earlier this week. The RBI stood pat at today's policy meeting, and the central bank is likely in wait-and-see mode as it awaits cues from the U.S. Fed, while stock markets should continue to consolidate in the meantime, Umeshkumar Mehta, CIO at SAMCO Mutual Fund, said in a note. Among decliners, Asian Paints fell 3.2%, Infosys lost 2.8% and Power Grid Corp. of India shed 2.7%. Meanwhile, Tata Motors gained 1.6%, HDFC Bank rose 1.1% and Bharti Airtel added 0.7%.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. slipped Thursday, as the FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.3% to 8144.97.

Among large companies, Spirax Group PLC posted the largest decline, dropping 7.4%, followed by shares of Savills PLC, which fell 5.0%. Shares of Helios Towers PLC fell 4.4%.

Beazley PLC was the biggest gainer during the session, surging 11%, and Deliveroo PLC surged 11%. Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC rounded out the top three movers on Thursday, as shares surged 8.3%.

In other parts of Europe markets closed mixed, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index up 0.1% to 496.37, Germany's DAX gained 0.4% to 17,680.40 and France's CAC 40 lost 0.3% to 7,247.45.

North America

The S&P 500 posted its best day in nearly two years after a better-than-expected jobless claims report helped ease fears that the labor market is weakening.

U.S. stock futures and Treasury yields rose immediately after the release of data showing initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, were 233,000 during the week ended Aug. 3, down from the prior week's recent high of 250,000. That helped alleviate some of the concern about a U.S. labor-market slowdown that rattled markets after last week's weaker-than-expected jobs report.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed back near 4%, closing at 3.997%. The S&P 500 closed up 2.3%, its biggest single-day gain since November 2022. The Nasdaq jumped 2.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.8%, or 683.04 points, higher.

Thursday's action came as a relief to many after the most volatile week in years. Last week's weak jobs data sparked a sharp market selloff starting Friday, but the outsize moves were intensified by arcane factors including hedge funds unwinding bets that used borrowed money.

"We along with a lot of other market participants had been puzzled to a degree by the amount of sensitivity the market was showing," said Kevin Khang, senior international economist at Vanguard. "We don't think anything material has changed related to the fundamentals of the economy."

Thursday's gains were broad-based, with every S&P 500 sector closing green. The index was down just 0.5% on the week at Thursday's close, recovering most of its sharp losses.

The Japanese yen fell against the dollar, a relief for big institutional investors that had piled into bets against the currency and then were forced to unwind them during a surprise rally. The unwinding of the trade along with several other popular bets contributed to sharp declines in other assets earlier in the week, analysts said.

"We would consider this a positioning-driven crash, rather than the start of a recessionary bear market," analysts at BNP Paribas wrote Wednesday.

The Cboe Volatility Index, a measure of the expected volatility of the S&P 500 also known as Wall Street's fear gauge, fell to around 24 after briefly spiking to levels on Monday not seen since the Covid -related market crash in 2020.

"The sharp decline indicates investors' fears are abating, but still remain elevated from the start of the month," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth Management.

In earnings, Eli Lilly stock rallied 9.5% after the Mounjaro maker raised its annual revenue guidance by $3 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery stock tumbled 9% after the company posted a near-$10 billion loss related to write-downs on its television stations.