Investors’ attention next week is likely to be on US payroll data on Friday for reassurance over the strength of the economy, following the Federal Reserve’s bumper interest rate cut.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the US to have added 145,000 jobs in September, a slight increase on the 142,000 created in August, and up from the 89,000 in July. The unemployment rate, calculated from a separate survey, is forecast to hold steady at 4.2 per cent.
US stocks are marginally higher since the Fed cut rates by half a percentage point, its first cut in four years, to a range of 4.75-5 per cent earlier this month. Fed chair Jay Powell has said the central bank intended to support a strong US labour market.