By Dow Jones Newswires Staff
U.S. equity futures edged down slightly as traders neared the close of a week in which war in the Middle East shocked energy markets and raised inflation fears.
Brent crude oil prices surged above $87 a barrel despite slipping slightly after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. would allow Indian refiners to buy Russian oil for 30 days. Neither the U.S. and Israel nor Iran gave concrete signs of de-escalation as markets remained sensitive to any hints of easing or ramping up of the conflict.
Inflation fears born from the jump in oil and gas prices saw U.S. Treasurys record their worst four-day run since last summer as hopes of near-term Federal Reserve rate cuts faded. The Middle East conflict threatens to overshadow U.S. nonfarm payrolls data released later Friday, with analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal forecasting job additions of 50,000 in February, below January's reading.
--Oil prices rose again in morning European trade after rising nearly 5% Thursday. Brent crude traded up 2.3% to $87.30 a barrel, while WTI was up 2.5% at $77.40 a barrel. Immediate supply constraints might be eased slightly by the U.S. decision to allow the sale of Russian oil to India but this is not a game-changer, ING analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said. The waiver allows the sale of Russian crude and products to India that were loaded onto vessels before March 5 and remains valid until April 4.
--Gold was expected to post its first weekly decline in five weeks as traders reassess U.S interest-rate trajectory, Hargreaves Lansdown's Matt Britzman said. Silver futures rose 3% to $84.65 an ounce in early European trade, while gold was up 0.85% to $5,122 a troy ounce.
--U.S. equity futures edged down after major indexes swung to a loss Thursday. Futures for the S&P 500 edged down 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat. The Nasdaq also edged down 0.1%. Shares in cloud computing giant Oracle traded 1.35% higher premarket after the company said it plans to cut thousands of jobs across the company amid the rising costs of its artificial-intelligence expansion.
--Asian equities were mixed after a roller-coaster week. After wild swings in both directions in recent sessions, South Korea's Kospi closed flat on Friday. It fell 11% for the week and ended a three-week rising streak. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average finished 0.6% higher, led by technology and financial stocks. China's Shanghai Composite ended 0.4% higher, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.6%, bolstered by JD Logistics and JD.com's post-earnings gains. Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index added 0.1%.
--European blue-chip equity indexes pushed higher at the opening bell as industrial stocks gained amid volatile trade. Equities whipsawed Thursday, closing sharply down after spending much of the day in the green. Industrials giants Rheinmetall and Siemens jumped 2.5% and 1.3%,respectively, as the German DAX gained 0.6%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.2% on industrials gains, while the French CAC gained 0.3% as luxury stocks moved higher. The Italian FTSE MIB was up 0.2%, while a broad-based rally in Spain--led by airline group IAG, climbing 1.7%--helped the IBEX 35 to rise 0.3%.
Zealand Pharma shares plummeted 28% in Denmark after a drug developed alongside Roche--down 3%--fell short of efficacy expectations.
--The dollar fell earlier as oil prices eased slightly and investors looked ahead to U.S. jobs data. The uplift in oil prices lifted the dollar in recent days as the U.S. is a net oil exporter, while inflation fears mean the market has scaled back near term interest-rate cut expectations. The DXY dollar index fell 0.3% to 98.991
--Short-dated U.S. Treasury yields declined in Asian trade, while medium- and longer-dated ones were little changed. Friday's U.S. payroll print is unlikely to change the Federal Reserve's position. "It seems difficult to envisage the jobs report materially moving the needle from a policy perspective, with the FOMC firmly in wait-and-see mode for now," Pepperstone's Michael Brown said in a note. The two-year Treasury yield fell 1.8 bps to 3.580%; the 10-year Treasury yield was down 0.4 bps at 4.141%, according to Tradeweb.
--Bitcoin fell as investors take profits after the cryptocurrency's recent recovery and as investors remain cautious amid the Middle East conflict, LMAX Group's Joel Kruger said. Bitcoin's pullback looks like a "natural pause" after its breakout above $70,000, driven by investors closing earlier bets against the cryptocurrency and momentum buying, he added. Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $70,948 after hitting a one-month high of $74,049 Wednesday, LSEG data show.
Write to Barcelona Editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-06-26 0535ET
