European markets moved higher on Friday, showing optimism as November began, while traders waited for the upcoming U.S. jobs report. At mid-morning in London, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was up by around 0.6%, with nearly all sectors and leading markets seeing gains. Oil and gas stocks outperformed, posting a 1.2% increase.
This positive start followed a downbeat close on Thursday when European stocks saw their largest monthly drop of the year, driven by mixed corporate earnings, inflation updates, and the release of a significant U.K. budget.
Across the Asia-Pacific, markets had a weaker session on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell by more than 2.6%, extending losses from Thursday after the Bank of Japan opted to keep interest rates steady.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures saw slight gains, as investors looked ahead to the October jobs report. This followed a rough session on Thursday in which major indices like the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 dropped due to disappointing earnings from big tech names, including Microsoft and Meta.
The upcoming U.S. nonfarm payrolls data, scheduled for release at 12:30 p.m. London time, holds significant weight as it precedes both Tuesday’s presidential election and the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting.
JPMorgan European Discovery Trust plc (LON:JEDT) is an investment trust company. The Investment Trust JEDT objective is to achieve capital growth from a portfolio of quoted smaller companies in Europe, excluding the United Kingdom.
