Eyes on Jobs Data (04-01-2008)

It was a volatile session again on Wall Street on Thursday, as stocks initially responded positively to the unemployment data but failed to maintain gains as worry set in regarding consumer spending in the technology sector as well as regarding to the anticipated jobs data scheduled for release later today. Indices closed flat overall.

Asian markets were mixed with Japanese markets plunging after their New Year break and both major indices closing with over 4% losses. The banking sector was especially hard hit, with Mitsubishi UFJ losing 4.97%, Sumitomo dropping 4.68%, Mizuho Financials retreating by 4.31% while others such as Michinoku Bank lost 8.78%, Daisan Bank plunged by 8.59% and the Bank of Nagoya dropped by 7.89%.

Conversely, in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 2.5 percent, while benchmark indices in China, Singapore and South Korea rose more than 0.5 percent.

In Europe, markets opened higher and were trading in a narrow range gaining on energy and resource stocks, while these gains were offset by weakness in auto stocks after a lukewarm U.S. car sales report

On the other side of the Atlantic, the jobs data, which is due at 13:00 GMT, is capturing investors attention; they hope the reading will have some bearing on the outlook for he U.S. economy and is likely to influence trading today.