Tokyo (AP) — Shares fell in Europe early Monday after a day of gains in Asia.
Investors were encouraged by a wave of buying late last week on Wall Street that was spurred by strong U.S. jobs numbers and optimism over China-U.S. trade.
France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.2% in early trading to 5,860.03, while Germany’s DAX declined 0.1% to 13,154.81. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.1% to 7,230.09.
U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures falling less than 0.1% to 28,001. S&P 500 futures fell nearly 0.1% to 3,144.10.
The surprisingly strong U.S. jobs report for November put investors in a buying mood Friday on Wall Street, extending the market’s winning streak to a third day.
“Markets were mostly higher on the solid U.S. jobs data print,” Vishnu Varathan of the Asia & Oceania Treasury Department at Mizuho Bank in Singapore said in a report, adding that questions remained on whether that would prove enough amid other global risks.
The Labor Department said employers added 266,000 positions, well above estimates of 184,000. The report also showed unemployment falling to a 50-year low. Separately, an index that measures how consumers feel about the economy showed an increase from last month.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged 0.3% higher to finish at 23,430.70, after the Cabinet Office reported the economy expanded at a 1.8% annual pace in July-September, spurred by strong consumer purchases ahead of an Oct. 1 sales tax hike. That was much stronger than the 0.2% growth earlier reported and marked a fourth straight quarter of expansion for the world’s No. 3 economy.
Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3% to 6,730.00. S outh Korea’s Kospi edged 0.3% higher to 2,088.65. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed, inching down to 26,494.73. The Shanghai Composite index rose nearly 0.1% to 2,914.48.
The week got off to a strong start after the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 300 points on Friday, while the S&P 500 erased losses from earlier in the week, nudging the benchmark index to a second consecutive weekly gain.
The S&P 500 rose 0.9% to 3,145.91. The index posted a 0.2% gain for the week, a solid pivot from losses of more than 1% as of late Thursday. It’s now within 0.3% of its all-time high set on Nov. 27 and up 25.5% so far this year.
The latest gains also helped stem some of the losses for the Dow and Nasdaq.
Trade tensions and disappointing economic reports — including data showing manufacturing continues to shrink and growth in the service sector is slowing — dragged the market to steep losses on Monday and Tuesday.
But steady job growth has been one of the bright spots in the economy, along with solid consumer spending.
Investors also got some encouraging news on the U.S.-China trade front, with Beijing saying Friday that it is waiving punitive tariffs on U.S. soybeans and pork as negotiations for a trade deal continue.
ENERGY: Benchmark crude oil lost 48 cents to $58.72 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It advanced 77 cents to $59.20 per barrel on Friday. Brent crude oil, the international standard for pricing, shed 45 cents to $63.94.
CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 108.45 Japanese yen from 108.59 yen on Friday. The euro was little changed, inching up to $1.1067 from $1.1062.
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