In Asian Equity Markets stocks fell on Friday as fears of a hawkish Fed grew ahead of key U.S. labor data, although most bourses were set for weekly gains as they recovered from steep losses in September. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7 percent and was up 4.5 percent this week, as improving service sector activity and better-than-expected industrial production and retail sales data pointed to some resilience in the Japanese economy. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was set to rise nearly 5 percent this week after the Reserve Bank hiked rates by less than expected, sending a dovish signal to markets.

In Currency Markets the dollar held onto strong overnight gains on Friday, buoyed by hawkish Federal Reserve speakers and as investors looked to a key jobs report later in the day for clues on how much further U.S. rates would need to rise. Sterling was up 0.09 percent at $1.1170, having fallen 1.4 percent overnight. It rebounded to a high of $1.1493 earlier in the week, after the British government reversed its planned cut to the highest rate of income tax. The euro gained 0.09 percent to $0.98015, after two unsuccessful attempts to regain parity this week.

In US Equity Markets major indexes closed lower on Thursday as concerns mounted ahead of closely watched monthly nonfarm payrolls numbers due on Friday that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate stance will lead to a recession. The Dow fell 1.15 percent, to 29,926.94, the S&P 500 lost 1.02 percent, to 3,744.52 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.68 percent, to 11,073.31. Tesla Inc fell 1.1 percent as Apollo Global Management Inc and Sixth Street Partners, which had been looking to provide financing for Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter deal, are no longer in talks with the billionaire.

In Commodities Markets oil prices rose on Thursday, holding at three-week highs after OPEC+ agreed to tighten global supply with a deal to cut production targets by 2 million barrels per day (bpd), the producers’ largest reduction since 2020. Brent crude futures settled at $94.42 a barrel, up 1.1 percent. U.S. WTI crude futures settled at $88.45 a barrel, gaining 0.8 percent after closing 1.4 percent up on Wednesday. Spot gold fell 0.2 percent to $1,712.19 per ounce. Spot silver fell 0.6 percent to $20.57 per ounce, while platinum firmed 0.5 percent to $923.12 and palladium gained 1.1 percent to $2,272.71.

In European Equity Markets stocks fell on Thursday as minutes from the central bank’s last meeting fanned fears about the state of inflation in the euro zone and aggressive policy moves to tame it, while weak retail sales data added to jitters around an economic slowdown. The pan-European STOXX 600 index reversed early session gains and was down 0.6 percent, extending losses to a second straight session. London’s blue-chip FTSE 100 reversed early session gains to fall 0.8 percent while the domestically-focused mid-caps index was up 0.4 percent.

In Bond Markets the yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury rose on Thursday after a reading on the labor market showed unemployment benefit claims rose by the most in four months last week ahead of the monthly payrolls report. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was up 5.9 basis points to 3.818 percent. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was up 2.5 basis points to 3.790 percent. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was up 9.1 basis points at 4.241 percent.