Global stocks headed for their first weekly gain in three amid a surge in commodity prices, while traders braced for a key U.S. jobs report later on Friday that could provide clues on when the Federal Reserve will ease back on monetary stimulus.
MSCI's benchmark for global equity markets, which tracks stocks in 50 countries, edged up about 0.1per cent, on course for a 0.4per cent gain this week.Its broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up by about 0.4per cent on Friday, with China's blue chips and Japan's Nikkei each gaining about 0.3per cent.
Overnight, Wall Street investors piled into economically-sensitive stocks on the reflation trade, driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record high close on Thursday.AdvertisementU.S. shares rallied, led by financials and industrials, after a report showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell below 500,000 last week for the first since the COVID-19 pandemic started, signalling the labour market recovery entered a new phase amid a booming economy.
The focus now shifts to Friday's non-farm payrolls report, with estimates ranging widely between 700,000 and more than 2 million jobs having been created in April."Get ready for payrolls, they could be huge," Chris Weston, head of research at broker Pepperstone in Melbourne, wrote in a note for clients.