European markets were higher on Friday morning as investors awaited a closely-watched U.S. jobs report due later in the day.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 added 0.5% in early trade, with travel and leisure stocks climbing 1.2% to lead gains as almost all sectors and major bourses entered positive territory.
The tepid open expected in Europe follows a mixed session in Asia-Pacific, where mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stocks pulled back sharply while other major markets made modest gains.
Stateside, stock futures were little changed in early premarket trade as investors looked ahead to the Labor Department’s all-important monthly jobs report. Economists expect nonfarm payrolls to have grown by 706,000 jobs in June, with the unemployment rate falling from 5.8% to 5.6%, according to a Dow Jones survey.
Though the headline job creation figure is a key economic indicator, traders will likely be scrutinizing the change in average hourly earnings for any sudden uptick in wages. The average hourly wage is estimated to have jumped 0.3% on a month-over-month basis, and climbed 3.6% over the last 12 months.
Back in Europe, May’s euro zone producer prices data are expected at 10 a.m.
On Thursday, following two days of talks, 130 countries pledged support for the U.S. proposal of a global minimum corporate tax of 15%.
In corporate news, Spain’s Caixabank on Thursday announced that it would lay off 6,452 employees in the biggest staff overhaul in the history of the Spanish banking sector.
Meanwhile U.S. activist hedge fun Elliott is urging GlaxoSmithKline to review its leadership and consider selling some of its consumer healthcare business, having built up a considerable stake in the British pharmaceutical giant.
In terms of individual share price movement on Thursday, Maltese online gambling operator Kindred Group climbed 5.9% in early trade after announcing the acquisition of Relax Gaming.
At the bottom of the European blue chip index, Danish hospital equipment manufacturer Ambu plunged more than 11% after revising down its full-year profit guidance.
– CNBC’s Thomas Franck contributed to this report.
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