European stocks fell and emerging-market currencies extended a seventh weekly decline amid speculation a US jobs report will give the Federal Reserve more reason to raise interest rates. Copper touched a six-year low.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.3% at 6:02 a.m. in New York, as media companies and drugmakers followed declines in the US on Thursday. Russia’s ruble and Malaysia’s ringgit led losses in developing-nation currencies. The Australian dollar strengthened as central bank comments on employment stoked speculation it was done cutting interest rates. Chinese stocks rebounded on bets the government will take steps to support the market, Bloomberg reported.
The impending Fed move spurred a selloff in emerging markets that’s been exacerbated by a rout in commodities. Industrial metals slumped to multiyear lows on signs of a slowdown in China, compounded by Friday’s unexpected drop in German industrial production.
“We’ve seen this week that market expectations about a Fed hike in September do appear to be moving higher,” said Alvin T. Tan, a foreign-exchange strategist at Societe Generale SA in London. “The icing on the cake would be a pretty strong number on the payrolls.” More than two shares fell for every one that advanced in the Stoxx 600, paring the gauge’s weekly gain to 0.8%. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed after the index fell the most in almost two weeks on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Chinese and Japanese stocks rose Friday while other global markets were lower as investors looked ahead to US jobs data that could cement expectations for an interest rate hike.
In early trading, Germany’s DAX shed 0.2% to 11,566.82 and France’s CAC-40 lost 0.1% to 5,184.23. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% to 6,744.01. On Wall Street, futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 both fell 0.1%.
