US employment report eases growth concerns. 
United States
Stocks wobbled but managed a fourth consecutive day of gains after employment increased more than expected in February. The Dow was up 0.4 percent, the S&P gained 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq was 0.2 percent higher. For the week, the three indices increased 2.2 percent, 2.7 percent and 2.8 percent respectively.
Stocks were up after reports on hiring, construction spending and manufacturing suggest that the US economy was doing well. Employment was up 242,000 in February while the unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent for a second month. Employers also hired more people in December and January than had been previously estimated.
AMC Theaters, owned by the Wanda Group of China, is buying Carmike Cinemas in a deal worth $1.1 billion including debt and creating the biggest movie theater chain in the world. Hewlett Packard Enterprise, an information technology products and service company, gained after it reported better than expected results from its first quarter as a publicly traded company. Smith & Wesson was up after its profit and sales surpassed expectations. Smith & Wesson also raised its profit and sales projections for its current fiscal year.
H&R Block tumbled after its quarterly profit and revenue disappointed investors. The company said people are filing their taxes later and refunds are taking longer to process as efforts to fight tax fraud increase. Freeport-McMoRan gained as copper climbed to the highest in almost four months on speculation China will announce more measures to bolster growth. Alcoa climbed for a second straight week. ConocoPhillips gained boosting the energy group and taking the company’s climb this week to 21 percent, the biggest since 1989. Chesapeake Energy and Transocean jumped. Apple climbed along with Netflix.
These data reflect observations at 4:00 PM US ET. Gold at the afternoon London fixing was up US$27.25 to US$1,277.50. Copper futures were up 2.3 percent to US$2.26. WTI spot crude was up US$1.35 to US$35.92. Dated Brent spot crude was up US$1.65 to US$38.72. The US dollar was down against the euro, pound, Swiss franc and the Canadian and Australian dollars. However, it advanced against the yen. The Dollar Index was down 0.5 percent. The yield on US Treasury 30 year bond was up 3 basis points to 2.69 percent while the yield on the 10 year note was up 4 basis points to 1.87 percent.
 
Europe
Stock indices were mostly higher Friday — the exception was the MIB which was down 0.4 percent. The markets were rather subdued in early trading, but reached their intraday high immediately following the release of the better than expected US jobs report. Those gains quickly began to erode, but firmed up after the US markets began to climb. Mining and resource stocks were among the best performing stocks at the end of the week, thanks to rising metal prices. Financial stocks also turned in a solid performance and energy stocks were up as crude oil prices logged modest gains. The FTSE was up 1.0 percent, the CAC gained 0.9 percent, the DAX advanced 0.7 percent and the SMI added 0.4 percent. For the week, the indices advanced. The FTSE gained 1.7 percent, the CAC and DAX both added 3.3 percent and the SMI was up 1.3 percent.
Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler finished higher. Banks including Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Société Générale, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole closed higher. ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter advanced. Accor gained after denying media reports that it was in talks to buy Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. Technip and Total advanced. In London, advertising group WPP retreated. Chief Executive Martin Sorrell sounded a little bit cautious about the outlook despite the company posting 4.2 percent annual growth in like-for-like revenue for January, ahead of budget. Miners turned in a strong performance on rising metal prices. Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Glencore, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and Randgold Resources all advanced. Standard Chartered, Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland increased.
 
Asia Pacific
Asian shares fluctuated around the unchanged line Friday as a string of sluggish US data (on Thursday) and anxiety ahead of Friday’s employment report which would be released after markets here closed for the week, China’s annual legislative sessions beginning Saturday and next week’s ECB meeting prompted investors take some profits after recent sharp gains.
The Shanghai Composite was up 0.5 percent (and up 3.9 percent for the week). Gains in banks outweighed losses among small-cap stocks. The Hang Seng advanced 1.2 percent and 4.2 percent for the week. The Chinese yuan strengthened for the fourth day after the People’s Bank of China fixed a stronger midpoint against the dollar.
The Nikkei recovered from early losses to end the session up 0.3 percent, closing above the 17,000 threshold for the first time in about a month. Sharp jumped on reports that it is continuing talks with Taiwan’s Foxconn to conclude a takeover deal. Sony gained after launching a new research initiative called Future Lab Program that will involve customers in the design process for eventual products. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told Parliament that he is not considering lowering of interest rates further at this point. The BoJ would use three dimensions of qualitative and quantitative easing and negative rates as necessary to achieve the 2 percent inflation target.
Both the S&P/ASX and All Ordinaries added 0.2 percent Friday and both were 4.2 percent higher on the week. BHP Billiton advanced despite suffering a credit rating cut from Moody’s Investors Service. Rio Tinto gained after reporting an increase in iron ore reserves in Australia. The four big banks were up on the day. The Kospi slipped 0.1 percent but advanced 1.8 percent on the week. The Sensex edged up 0.2 percent and 6.4 percent on the week.
 
Global Stock Markets

Please remember, the value of investments and the income from them can do down as well as up. Funds that invest in overseas markets may be subject to currency fluctuations. Investments in small and emerging markets can be more volatile than other overseas markets. Reference in this document to specific securities should not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell these securities, but is included for the purposes of illustration only.
Looking forward*

Central Bank activities

 
 

March 9

Canada

Bank of Canada Monetary Policy Announcement

March 10

Eurozone

European Central Bank Monetary Policy Announcement

 
 
 

The following indicators will be released this week…

Europe

 
 
 
 

March 7

Germany

Manufacturing Orders (January)

March 8

Eurozone

Gross Domestic Product (Q4.2015 second estimate)

 

Germany

Industrial Production (January)

 

France

Merchandise Trade Balance (January)

March 9

UK

Industrial Production (January)

March 10

Germany

Merchandise Trade Balance (January)

 

France

Industrial Production (January)

March 11

UK

Merchandise Trade Balance (January)

 
 
 

Asia/Pacific

 
 

March 8

Japan

Gross Domestic Product (Q4.2015 revised)

 
 

Producer Price Index (February)

March 10

China

Consumer Price Index (February)

 
 

Producer Price Index (February)

 
 
 
 
 

Americas

 
 

March 8

Canada

Housing Starts (February)

March 10

United States

Initial Unemployment Claims (week ending prior Saturday)

March 11

Canada

Labour Force Survey (February)

 

United States

Import/Export Price Indexes (February)