World Market Overview 4/4/2011

U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday on strong jobs data. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 56.99 points, or 0.46 percent, to 12,376.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 6.58 points, or 0.50 percent, to 1,332.41. The Nasdaq Composite rose 8.53 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,789.60.

On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department said 216,000 non-farm jobs were created last month, a fourth straight gain, while the unemployment rate hit a two-year low of 8.8 percent.

U.S. Futures

Futures on the S&P 500 are up 0.08 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 0.03 percent and Nasdaq100 futures are up 0.31 percent.

The euro lost 0.22 percent to 1.4205 against the dollar while the greenback gained 0.0155 percent against the yen to 84.0755. Crude oil futures advanced 0.44 percent to $108.41 a barrel and gold futures gained 0.31 percent.

European Markets

European stock markets were mixed on Monday ahead of an expected interest rate rise by the European Central Bank.

DAX30 advanced 8.56 points or 0.12 percent to 7,188.37 and FTSE 100 advanced 13.18 points or 0.22 percent to 6,023.10, while CAC 40 edged down 2.83 points or 0.07 percent 4,051.93.

On the corporate front, Rhodia shares surged 49 percent after the chemicals group agreed to be purchased by Belgian chemicals and plastics company Solvay SA for $4.8 billion. Vodafone rose 1.7 percent after selling its 44 percent stake in France's second-biggest mobile telecoms operator SFR to Vivendi for a total of 7.95 billion euros.

Asian Markets

Most Asian stocks ended modestly higher on Monday, after strong U.S. jobs growth boosted optimism about the global economy.

Benchmark Nikkei index advanced 0.1 percent to 9,718.89, while Hong Kong rose 1.5 percent at 24,150.6. South Korea's KOSPI average finished 0.24 percent lower at 2,115.87 points on Monday. India's BSE Sensex was up 1.24 percent.

Markets in China and Taiwan were closed for a public holiday on Monday.