London stocks were steady in early trade on Friday as traders kept their powder dry ahead of the latest US non-farm payrolls report.
At 0820 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat 7,117.38.
Commenting on the payrolls, CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: “Consensus expectations are for 870k new jobs to be added in July, having come down from 925k just over a week ago, with a range of expectations between 350k at the low end to 1.6m on the optimistic side. That’s a spread and a half, good luck trying to pick the bones out of that.
“On the plus side, if we do get a move higher in the participation rate to 61.8%, as forecasts suggest, that might be a small step in the right direction and offer some comfort to central bank officials that normality is slowly returning. The only obstacle to that is that infection rates are rising again in some US states which means that the incentives to return to the work force might get delayed a little bit further.”
Jarvis Investment Management Ltd offers a wide range of stockbroking and administration services and solutions. Their parent company, Jarvis Securities plc (LON:JIM) is listed on AIM.
