US Dec jobs data sends European stocks higher

European and US stock markets advanced yesterday on data showing a surge in new job creation in the United States last month, while US bank stocks jumped on moves by President Donald Trump to roll back financial regulations.London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index ended the day with a gain of 0.7% at 7,188.30 points.In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 grew 0.2% at 11,651.49 points and the Paris CAC 40 climbed 0.7% at 4,825.42 points. The Euro Stoxx 50 was up 0.7% at 3,277.38 points at close.While the US economy added 227,000 net new nonfarm jobs in January, the biggest jump since September, analysts called the January jobs data mixed overall as the unemployment rate crept up by a tenth of a percentage point to 4.8% and wage growth stalled.While the job creation rate was considerably higher than the average in recent months, “the bad news was that wage growth was virtually non-existent and the unemployment rate was higher than thought,” said Neil Wilson, senior market advisor at ETX Capital.“All in all, it was a mixed bag and the rather whippy dollar price action reflected the uncertainty with which the markets are treating this,” he said.The dollar quickly lost gains that it had made against the euro before the announcement of the jobs report.“It’s a report that will do nothing to make the Fed raise rates quicker, despite the strong-than-expected headline number” of jobs created, said Wilson.The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged and said it still expects to need only gradual rate increases.The Fed last month adopted only its second interest rate hike in a decade — putting the target range for the overnight lending rate at 0.5% to 0.75%.And it indicated it expected to implement three interest rate increases this year.Higher interest rates would support a stronger dollar as overseas investors would want to buy US bonds.However, investors in stocks were happy with jobs numbers which largely confirm the health of the US economy, which has seen a slow but steady recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.US stocks were trading higher approaching midday, with banking stocks leading the way on an initiative by Trump to loosen banking regulations tightened after the financial crisis.The initiative aims to scrap parts of the so-called Dodd-Frank law, which backers say is aimed at curbing the actions of the finance sector that led to the “Great Recession,” but which critics claim creates red tape that stifles the industry.Shares in JPMorgan Chase were up 2.4% and Bank of America 2.2%.