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European stocks head for library.kemu.ac.ke 7th weekly gain

Yen at two-month high on rate trek bets

Gold steady near record peak

By Amanda Cooper

LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) -

U.S. stock futures steadied on Friday ahead of U.S. payrolls data, with financiers cautiously positive that the world may prevent a full-on trade war, while the prospect of more rate hikes in Japan this year briefly sent out the yen towards two-month highs.

In a week that began with U.S. President Donald Trump kicking off a trade war and whipping up market volatility, financiers have watched out for making any major moves, provided that he followed through on his danger to impose responsibilities on China while giving Mexico and Canada a one-month reprieve.

The all-important U.S. jobs report for January is due ahead of the Wall Street open. Economists anticipate to see 170,000 employees contributed to nonfarm payrolls last month, but offered the potential distortions from spells of cold weather condition and the California wildfires, the variety of projections is broad.

"The focus for the monetary markets in current weeks has actually been very much on Trump and his financial policies, in specific on trade, but today there is the potential for the jobs data to affect Fed rate expectations," Derek Halpenny, a currency strategist at MUFG, said.

"A pretty big divergence from the agreement is still likely needed to move expectations significantly however severe weather at this time of the year has in the past led to sharply weaker NFP readings and weather condition might impact today ´ s report," he said.

Futures on the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were trading mainly stable on the day, while shares of

Amazon

insinuated premarket trading on the back of

weak point

in the retailer's cloud unit.

In Europe, the STOXX 600 headed for a seventh straight week of gains, trading flat on the day after having actually struck record highs earlier today, following a wave of strong incomes from the similarity Danish weight-loss drugmaker Novo Nordisk, German software business SAP and French lending institution BNP Paribas.

European stocks have staged their best efficiency in a decade against Wall Street in the first six weeks of 2025, but the focus is now on whether those gains can be sustained.

On the Asian market, tech stocks staged a rally, powered by Chinese retail financiers, who have actually caught the AI theme in the wake of home-grown start-up DeepSeek's breakthrough.

DELICATE CHINA

Beijing's relatively determined action to Trump's tariffs has actually left room for negotiations, experts state, which has actually helped repair investor belief.

China's blue-chip stock index closed up 1.3% after touching a one-month high.

"Whilst there is significant sound and uncertainty, we don't see escalating trade stress as a video game changer in the potential customers for the Chinese market," said James Cook, investment director for emerging markets at Federated Hermes.

Markets are pricing in 43 basis points of relieving this year from the Fed, with a rate cut in July totally priced in, as policymakers remain in no hurry to begin the rate-cutting cycle again.

The dollar edged up 0.1% against a basket of currencies, having rallied 7% in 2015, as investors priced in a far more aggressive policy stance from the Fed this year, where rate cuts may be couple of and far between.

Other main banks are cutting interest rates, while the Bank of Japan is tailoring up for a minimum of another rate trek this year. Strong wage development data has actually intensified the possibilities of tighter monetary policy, which has actually pushed the yen to two-month highs against the dollar.

The yen touched 150.96 per dollar over night, its greatest level because December 10, before easing to leave the dollar up 0.4% on the day at 152.155.

Sterling reversed earlier losses to increase 0.1% to $1.2449, having dropped 0.5% on Thursday as the BoE cut rates of interest and slashed its 2025 UK growth forecast.

In products, oil edged up, while gold steadied above $2,800 an ounce, near tape highs.

(Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; extra reporting by Stephen Culp, Marc Jones and Alun John; editing by Shri Navaratnam, Sam Holmes, Gareth Jones and Angus MacSwan)

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