German Trade Balance 17.7B 16.5B 17.6B


European stock index futures signal higher open

LONDON, June 7 | Fri Jun 7, 2013 7:07am BST
(Reuters) - European stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Friday, with a late recovery on Wall Street seen prompting investors to buy beaten-down stocks, although trading is likely to be choppy before U.S. jobs data.

Economists expect the non-farm payrolls report, due at 1230 GMT, to show job growth of 170,000 in May, against 165,000 in April. The unemployment rate is seen steady at an almost 4-1/2-year low of 7.5 percent.

At 0603 GMT, futures for Euro STOXX 50, Germany's DAX and France's CAC were 0.1 to 0.3 percent.

Samsung shares fall after JPMorgan cuts S4 outlook

Shares in Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest smartphone maker, fell the most in nine months after JPMorgan Chase cut its profit estimates.

Samsung shares fell as much as 5.5% in early trade in Seoul to a four-month low of 1,438,000 South Korean won.

JPMorgan said weak demand for Samsung's flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, from Europe was likely to impact earnings.

It said it now expects S4 shipments this year to be 20 to 30% lower than its previous forecast.

Nikkei scrapes back out of bear territory on pension fund hopes

Fri Jun 7, 2013 7:25am BST
TOKYO, June 7 (Reuters) - The Nikkei share average slid into
bear market territory on Friday but ended the day just out of it
on expectations that the the country's public pension fund will
increase its weighting of Japanese equities.

The Nikkei finished down 0.2 percent at 12,877.53.
At one point, it fell as low as 12,548.20, down 21.3 percent
from a multi-year peak hit on May 23 but later rose as high as
as 13,106.20 after the government flagged a briefing on its
public pension fund.

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the
world's largest public pension fund with more than $1 trillion
of assets, announced after the bell that it would increase its
target allocation for Japanese stocks to 12 percent from 11
percent.

The Topix dropped 1.3 percent to 1,056.95.

French Gov Budget Balance -66.8B -31.0B

French Trade Balance -4.5B -4.4B -4.7B

U.S. hiring seen pointing to economy in need of Fed's help

WASHINGTON | Fri Jun 7, 2013 7:40am BST

(Reuters) - U.S. employers likely stepped up hiring only slightly in May, a sign the economy was growing modestly but not strongly enough to convince the Federal Reserve to scale back the amount of cash it is pumping into the banking system.

The United States probably added 170,000 jobs last month, with the unemployment rate holding steady at a lofty 7.5 percent, according to a Reuters survey of economists.

FTSE100 slightly lower in quiet trade ahead of US jobs data

GBP Consumer Inflation Expectations 3.6% 3.6%

GBP Trade Balance -8.2B -8.8B -9.2B

German Industrial Production m/m 1.8% 0.0% 1.2%

FTSE100 flat in cautious trade ahead of US payroll data

CAD Employment Change 95K 16.1K 12.5K

CAD Unemployment Rate 7.1% 7.2% 7.2%

CAD Labor Productivity q/q 0.2% 0.3% 0.1%

USD Non-Farm Employment Change 175K 167K 165K

USD Unemployment Rate 7.6% 7.5% 7.5%

USD Average Hourly Earnings m/m 0.0% 0.2% 0.2%

U.S. hiring points to resilience in economy

WASHINGTON | Fri Jun 7, 2013 2:11pm BST
(Reuters) - U.S. employers stepped up hiring in May in a show of economic resilience that suggests the Federal Reserve could begin to scale back the amount of cash it is pumping into the banking system later this year.

The United States added 175,000 jobs last month, just above the median forecast in a Reuters poll, Labour Department data showed on Friday.

The unemployment rate ticked a tenth of a percentage point higher to 7.6 percent, in a relatively hopeful sign as it was driven by more workers entering the Labour force.

Still, after a winter in which the economy seemed to be turning a corner, May was the third straight month that payrolls outside the farm sector increased by less than 200,000.

Speculation has grown that the Fed could begin reducing its support for the economy by trimming bond purchases as soon as this fall, and Friday's jobs data did little to change expectations.

"It's not great, but it's good. It leaves the tapering talk still on the table," said Steve Blitz, chief economist at ITG in New York.

FTSE 100 turns on the hot tap following upbeat US jobs data

Hope you all have a great weekend. Thanks for a nice week....

G.