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European stocks head for 7th weekly gain

Yen at two-month high up on rate trek bets

Gold stable near record peak

By Amanda Cooper

LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) -

U.S. stock futures steadied on Friday ahead of U.S. payrolls information, with financiers carefully optimistic that the world might prevent a full-on trade war, while the possibility of more rate walkings in Japan this year briefly sent the yen towards two-month highs.

In a week that began with U.S. President Donald Trump kicking off a trade war and whipping up market volatility, investors have actually watched out for making any major nerdgaming.science moves, offered that he followed through on his hazard to enforce tasks on China while approving Mexico and Canada a one-month reprieve.

The necessary U.S. jobs report for January is due ahead of the Wall Street open. Economists anticipate to see 170,000 employees contributed to nonfarm payrolls last month, however given the prospective distortions from spells of winter and the California wildfires, the range of projections is wide.

"The focus for the financial markets in recent weeks has been quite on Trump and his financial policies, in particular on trade, however today there is the potential for the tasks information to influence Fed rate expectations," Derek Halpenny, a currency strategist at MUFG, said.

"A pretty large divergence from the agreement is still most likely needed to move expectations notably but extreme weather at this time of the year has in the past led to dramatically weaker NFP readings and weather condition might affect today ´ s report," he said.

Futures on the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were trading mainly stable on the day, while shares of

Amazon

slipped in premarket trading on the back of

weak point

in the unit.

In Europe, the STOXX 600 headed for a seventh straight week of gains, trading flat on the day after having struck record highs previously today, following a spate of strong profits from the similarity Danish weight-loss drugmaker Novo Nordisk, German software business SAP and French lender BNP Paribas.

European stocks have staged their finest efficiency in a years against Wall Street in the first six weeks of 2025, however the focus is now on whether those gains can be sustained.

On the Asian market, tech stocks staged a rally, powered by Chinese retail financiers, who have actually caught the AI theme in the wake of home-grown start-up DeepSeek's breakthrough.

DELICATE CHINA

Beijing's apparently measured reaction to Trump's tariffs has left room for negotiations, experts say, which has helped repair financier sentiment.

China's blue-chip stock index closed up 1.3% after touching a one-month high.

"Whilst there is significant noise and uncertainty, we do not see escalating trade stress as a game changer in the prospects for the Chinese market," said James Cook, financial investment director for emerging markets at Federated Hermes.

Markets are pricing in 43 basis points of relieving this year from the Fed, with a rate cut in July completely priced in, as policymakers remain in no rush to start the rate-cutting cycle again.

The dollar edged up 0.1% against a basket of currencies, having actually rallied 7% last year, as investors priced in an even more aggressive policy stance from the Fed this year, where rate cuts may be rare.

Other main banks are cutting rates of interest, while the Bank of Japan is tailoring up for a minimum of another rate hike this year. Strong wage development data has actually intensified the chances of tighter financial policy, which has pressed the yen to two-month highs against the dollar.

The yen touched 150.96 per dollar overnight, its greatest level because December 10, before alleviating to leave the dollar up 0.4% on the day at 152.155.

Sterling reversed earlier losses to rise 0.1% to $1.2449, having dropped 0.5% on Thursday as the BoE cut rates of interest and slashed its 2025 UK growth projection.

In products, oil edged up, while gold steadied above $2,800 an ounce, close to record highs.

(Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; additional reporting by Stephen Culp, Marc Jones and Alun John; modifying by Shri Navaratnam, Sam Holmes, Gareth Jones and Angus MacSwan)