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By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO (Reuters) – Global stock prices rose to a 1 1/2 month high on Monday after data showed an increase in US employment, while US bonds were pressured by fears that the Federal Reserve may increase interest rates earlier than indicated.
US S & P500 futures traded 0.5% higher, maintaining gains made during a truncated session on Friday, although high-tech Nasdaq futures stayed behind, being almost stable.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.8%, while the broader MSCI index for Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan was almost stable, with China closed for the tomb sweeping day and Australia on Monday. Easter fair.
The global MSCI index for all countries was almost stable, but it was close to its highest level since the end of February and in view of a record set that month.
The US Department of Labor said on Friday that non-farm payrolls increased by 916,000 jobs last month, the biggest gain since last August.
This was well above the economists’ median forecast of 647,000 and was closer to the whispering number of markets in the million. February data was also revised upward to show 468,000 jobs created instead of the 379,000 previously reported.
“There will be further improvements in April, with restaurants starting to reopen. People expected economic normalization to happen sooner or later, but their pace appears to be accelerating,” said Koichi Fujishiro, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research.
Although employment remains 8.4 million jobs below its peak in February 2020, an accelerated recovery has raised hopes that all jobs lost during the pandemic can be recovered by the end of next year.
The prospect of a return to full employment, in turn, is raising questions about whether the Fed can deliver on its promise to maintain interest rates until 2023.
Markets have strong doubts, with Fed fund futures fully valued at a rate hike by the end of next year.
Many market participants also expect the Fed to look into the possibility of reducing bond purchases this year, although Fed officials have said they have not yet discussed the issue.
“It will be impossible for the Fed to avoid discussing the reduction until the fall,” said Kozo Koide, chief economist at Asset Management One, noting that the US President Joe Biden’s infrastructure spending plan is likely to be approved by then.
The U.S. Treasury’s two-year yield rose to 0.186%, close to its eight-month peak of 0.194% touched at the end of February.
Yields on longer-term bonds also increased, with 10-year notes at 1.725% in Asia on Monday, extending their hike that began on Friday after the jobs report.
Strong employment data helped support the dollar.
The dollar traded at 110.57 yen, not far from Wednesday’s one-year peak of 110.97. The euro stood at $ 1.1767.
Gold fell 0.4% to $ 1,724.70.
In crypto assets, the ether fell 1.7% to $ 2,040.21 from Friday’s record high of $ 2,144.99. Bitcoin decreased 0.9% to $ 57,704.
Oil prices fell after OPEC + agreed last week to gradually reduce some of its production cuts between May and July.
American oil futures contracts fell 0.6% to $ 61.09 a barrel.
(Reporting by Hideyuki Sano, edited by Gerry Doyle)