Indications from the futures market are for the main US equity gauges to begin the Friday session with moderate gains, of roughly half a percentage point on average.

That comes on the heels of the release of better-than-expected employment data today in the United States. More important even perhaps, the US dollar has reacted with a gain to the date release, continuing with the recent trend of appreciating on the back of supportive data on the economy, instead of the opposite.

Non-farm payrolls increased by 236,000, well ahead of the 165,000 expected. Perhaps most significantly, the index of aggregate weekly hours registered a very large rise of 0.9% month-on-month.

Mc.Donalds has unveiled a 1.7% rise in worldwide same-store sales for the month of February, excluding some erratic factors, slightly ahead of expectations.

Athletic footwear retailer Foot Locker has announced strong fourth quarter results.

Citigroup has petitioned the Federal Reserve to allow it to repurchase $1.2bn of its own shares.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now dropping by 0.28% to the 91.30 dollar mark on the NYMEX.

10 year US Treasury yields are now 8 basis points higher on the day, at 2.07%.

AB

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