European stocks largely unchanged; caution ahead of US payrolls

Investing.com – European stock markets traded largely unchanged Friday, ending the week on a cautious note as investors awaited the release of the monthly US jobs report while keeping an eye on developments in the Middle East. 

At 03:15 ET (07:15 GMT), the in Germany traded flat, the in France rose 0.1%, while the in the U.K. climbed 0.1%.

Middle East conflict in spotlight

The main European indices have struggled during the early days of October as the tensions in the Middle East have escalated.

Investors remain concerned that Israel could imminently carry out retaliatory strikes on Iran, potentially including strikes on Iran’s oil facilities, as a response to Tehran’s missile attack on Israel.

Sentiment has been helped by US President Joe Biden saying he did not believe there is going to be an “all-out war” in the Middle East.

US payrolls in focus

Back in Europe, French rose 1.4% on the month in August, an improvement from the drop of 0.5% the prior month, while there are a number of speeches from European Central Bank policy makers scheduled throughout the day.

However, the day’s main focus will come across the pond in the form of the official US jobs report, which could determine market sentiment ahead of the next Federal Reserve policy-setting meeting.

The U.S. economy likely maintained a moderate pace of job growth in September, with seen climbing 147,000, while the is expected to have held steady at 4.2%.

Labor market data this week has tended to surprise on the positive side, which could remove some of the downside risk to today’s payrolls number, and a healthy release could reduce the need for the Federal Reserve to deliver large interest rate cuts in its final two meetings of the year.

Wetherspoon sales top £2 billion

In the corporate sector, J D Wetherspoon (LON:) stock rose 0.5% after the British pub chain reported a hefty 73% rise in annual pretax profits, with sales having topped £2 billion for the first time.

Crude gains on Middle East turmoil

Oil prices edged slightly higher Friday, and were on course for their largest weekly gain in over a year on the raised risk of an escalating conflict in the Middle East.

By 03:15 ET, the Brent contract gained 0.3% to $77.86 per barrel, while futures (WTI) traded 0.4% higher at $73.99 per barrel.

futures were set to gain around 8% for the week – its steepest since February 2023, while U.S. crude futures’ 8% weekly rise would be the largest since March last year.