The Japan Times - Stocks climb on reassuring jobs data, US-China trade optimism

Tesla stocks regained some ground after plunging Thursday following a stunning public row between the company's billionaire boss Elon Musk and Trump.

A below-par reading on private hiring this week raised worries about the labor market and the outlook for the US economy ahead of a Labor Department jobs report, a key piece of data used by the Federal Reserve as it decides whether to adjust interest rates.

But the report showed hiring in the world's largest economy came in at 139,000 last month, above market expectations.

The figure indicates that the US employment market is relatively healthy despite the jolts to financial markets, supply chains and consumer sentiment this year as Trump announced successive waves of tariffs.

"There was concern that the labor market was buckling under the pressure of tariffs and weaker economic growth. However, the May report suggests that the labor market is softening, not falling off a cliff," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading platform XTB, in a note.

"The price action suggests that the market is not taking these risks too seriously, that they do not see a recession in the future and that investors still think that corporate earnings growth will be strong."

The state of the jobs market is critical given how important consumer spending is to the overall economy, said eToro US investment analyst Bret Kenwell.

"While it may not be firing on all cylinders, it's far from showing signs of a major breakdown."

Wall Street mounted a strong comeback, and Paris and London stocks closed higher.

Frankfurt was near-flat after sentiment was knocked by the Bundesbank warning Germany could face two more years of recession if a trade war with the United States escalates sharply.

For now, however, the eurozone economy is showing signs of resilience, with official data Friday indicating it expanded at a significantly faster pace than previously estimated in the first three months of the year.

The EU's data agency said the 20-country single currency area recorded growth of 0.6 percent over the January-March period from the previous quarter, up from the 0.3-percent figure published last month.

- US-China talks -

Equity markets were also buoyed as Trump announced US officials would meet a Chinese team in London on Monday to discuss a "trade deal" on both sides.

"The meeting should go very well," Trump added in a Truth Social post, a day after speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the phone.

Investors are hopeful that high-level engagements could bring an easing of tensions following Trump's "Liberation Day" global tariff blitz that hit Beijing particularly hard.

While a stunning public row between the US leader and his former adviser Musk sent Wall Street into the red Thursday, all three major US indexes closed higher on Friday.

Shares in Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla rose 3.7 percent after tanking a day prior.

The president had threatened Musk's multibillion-dollar government contracts and Tesla shares plummeted -- wiping more than $100 billion from the company's value.

Oil prices rose on Friday, driven by the jobs data and nevertheless by prospects for a US-China trade detente, said Mark Bowman, an analyst at ADM Investors Services.

- Key figures at around 2020 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 42,762.87 points (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 1.0 percent at 6,000.36 (close)

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 19,529.95 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,837.91 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,804.87 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 24,304.46 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.5 percent at 37,741.61 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.5 percent at 23,792.54 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: FLAT at 3,385.36 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1397 from $1.1444 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3529 from $1.3571

Dollar/yen: UP at 144.81 yen from 143.58 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.23 pence from 84.31 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.7 percent at $66.47 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.9 percent at $64.58 per barrel

burs-rl-bys/sla

K.Yoshida--JT