European stocks higher; SocGen gains ahead of key U.S. payrolls release

Investing.com - European stock markets traded higher Friday, continuing the previous session’s positive tone on optimism around peak global rates, although focus was on key U.S. payrolls data later in the day.

At 04:35 ET (08:35 GMT), the DAX index in Germany traded 0.3% higher and the CAC 40 in France climbed 0.3% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. rose 0.4%.

Peak global rates?

European equities are having a strong week, following the lead from Wall Street, boosted by retreating global yields, surprisingly healthy corporate earnings and, most importantly, optimism that a number of senior central banks have concluded their rate-hiking cycles.

The Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, followed by the Bank of England on Thursday, while the European Central Bank had done the same last week.

The German DAX is on course to post gains of 3.1% for the week, the CAC 40 in Paris gains of 3.9% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. is currently 2.1% higher.

U.S. jobs report in spotlight

This optimism, however, could be punctured by a stronger than expected official U.S. jobs report later in the session, as this will be one of the data sets the Fed looks at when deciding its next step.

Analysts expect to see the U.S. economy added 180,000 jobs in October, down from September's 336,000. The unemployment rate is expected to remain the same, however, at 3.8%, while average hourly earnings are expected to have increased by 0.3% in October, following a 0.2% gain in September.

Back in Europe, German exports fell more than expected on the month in September, dropping 2.4% from August, as weak global demand hurt exports, while French industrial production fell 0.5% on the month in September, in another illustration of the regional economic weakness.

SocGen results boosted by its investment bank

In corporate news, Societe Generale (OTC:SCGLY) stock rose 0.8% after France's third-biggest listed bank posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings, as a resilient performance from its investment bank offset the steep downturn seen at its French retail division.

AP Moeller-Maersk (CSE:MAERSKb) stock slumped over 8% after the shipping giant reported a steep drop in profit and revenue in the third-quarter, and said it would cut 10,000 jobs as it battles with lower freight rates and subdued demand for container shipping.

Volvo (OTC:VLVLY) Car (ST:VOLCARb) rose over 6% after the Swedish-based auto manufacturer said sales grew 10% in October from a year earlier as fully electric cars sales jumped but hybrid models fell.

Across the pond, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock fell 2.8% after the tech giant reported, after the U.S. close Thursday, sales and profit for the fiscal fourth quarter that beat expectations, helped by an uptick in iPhone sales and a $1 billion boost to services revenue that offset large drops in Mac and iPad sales. However, its sales forecast for the holiday quarter disappointed, hurt by weak demand for iPads.

Crude heading for hefty weekly losses

Oil prices edged higher Friday, adding to the previous session’s sharp gains after traders became increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve was done with its run of interest rate hikes, hitting the dollar.

By 04:35 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.6% higher at $82.98 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.4% to $87.22 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained more than $2 a barrel on Thursday.

However, both crude contracts were set to lose more than 3% for the week, their second consecutive losing week, as a lack of escalation in the Israel-Hamas war removed worries about disruptions to supply in this oil-rich region.

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,995.25/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.0625.