MARKET WRAPS
Stocks:
European stock indexes nudged higher at the open on Friday but not enough to recover sharp losses in the last session.
Technology and industrial stocks led the risers, though banks remained weak.
Oil prices fell, giving back part of Thursday's gains as traders weighed recovering Middle East crude exports against renewed shipping risks and a larger U.S. military buildup in the region.
Yields on eurozone government bond yields fell, reversing earlier gains. French government bonds underperformed, taking French-German yield spreads to their highest since 2012.
Market Insight
Volvo Car scrapped its full-year guidance after warning that a further deterioration in the Chinese auto market and slow recovery in the U.S. led to lower-than-expected third-quarter sales.
U.S. Markets:
Stock futures edged higher and Treasury yields steadied, as market sentiment lifted at the beginning of jobs day.
Markets awaited non-farm payrolls data due to be released at 1230 GMT to gain clues on the potential pace of future interest rate rises by the Fed.
"A soft but not too soft number would be the sweet spot for the markets," Jefferies said.
Forex:
The euro could weaken further following the sharp selloff in French government bonds, ING said.
The Swiss franc rose to a two-month high against the euro and a one-week high versus the dollar.
The dollar eased after reaching a near 18-month high Thursday as markets trimmed lofty expectations for U.S. interest-rate rises and await the key U.S. nonfarm payrolls report at 1230 GMT.
Bitcoin stayed elevated after reaching a one-week high earlier.
Bonds:
The spread between French and German 10-year government bond yields hit its highest since 2012, extending Thursday's jump after the French government proposed a 2027 budget containing 43 billion euros in cuts and cost savings.
Gilts declined, undoing Thursday's sharp increase as demand rose. Elevated yields are attracting investors back into the market, boosting the bonds' performance.
Treasury yields were steady, staying below Thursday's multiyear highs ahead of key U.S. jobs data.
Energy:
Oil prices eased on signs that Gulf crude exports are recovering, although tensions in the region remain elevated amid concerns over further military action and attacks on shipping.
Metals:
Gold prices ticked higher as markets scale back expectations for imminent interest-rate hikes by the Fed.
EMEA HEADLINES
U.S. Sending Third Aircraft Carrier, Up to 10,000 More Troops, to Middle East
The Pentagon is sending a third aircraft-carrier strike group and an additional Marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East, according to U.S. officials, adding 9,000 to 10,000 more troops to the region as President Trump considers renewing strikes on Iran after the midterm elections.
The ships, jet fighters, Marines and sailors will arrive in the region by the end of November, the officials said. Trump recently told aides that he expects to resume bombing Iran that same month, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Near-Catastrophe on Flight 1073 Exposes Gaping Hole in Dubai's Aviation Security
The FlyDubai pilot who stabbed his captain and sent the plane diving toward the ground slipped through one of the world's tightest aviation-security nets. The question is: How?
The route connecting the United Arab Emirates and Israel is one of the world's most sensitive. The Middle East has a long history of hijackings and other attacks on civilian airliners.
Ukraine Fires Hard-to-Stop Ballistic Missile for First Time
Ukraine said Thursday that it had launched a ballistic missile at a Russian target for the first time in combat, introducing a hard-to-stop weapon that Moscow already uses regularly to deadly effect.
The FP-7 ballistic missile brings Ukraine into a small group of nations that can manufacture the weapons, though it is unclear how successful the first attack was.
GLOBAL NEWS
The Bond Rout Is Deepening Even as Oil Tankers Return to the Strait of Hormuz
The return of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz was supposed to bring down the price of crude, gasoline and diesel, taming inflation and lowering the world's borrowing costs. It isn't happening.
Even as U.S. forces have worn down Iran's grip on the waterway, helping oil shipments rebound toward prewar levels, the global crude-futures benchmark jumped 4.4% Thursday to $102.31 a barrel. Average U.S. gas prices tracked by AAA were hanging above $4.41 a gallon. And the 10-year Treasury yield, a rough proxy for interest rates on many types of loans, this week notched its highest level in 24 years.
South Korea's Inflation Eases But Stays Sticky
South Korea's headline inflation moderated last month but remained above the central bank's 2% target, underscoring the challenge of taming price pressures stoked by the energy shock and artificial-intelligence boom.
The result gives Bank of Korea policymakers another dataset to contemplate ahead of this month's meeting, as they weigh further tightening to counter inflation fanned by the Middle East conflict and AI-fueled demand.
Police Score Big Bucks With Little Work in Trump's Immigration Crackdown
Doddridge County Sheriff Clinton Boring committed his department to work on behalf of President Trump's deportation campaign in February, though he didn't expect to see many immigrants, legal or not. He had his sights on new squad cars.
"I honestly don't think there are any Hispanics that live in Doddridge," said Boring, whose West Virginia jurisdiction has about 7,600 residents. Even so, he added, "When you get an opportunity to get possibly $100,000 for equipment or vehicles, that's a no-brainer."
Carney Puts Oil Pipeline at Center of Bid to Keep Alberta in Canada
TORONTO-Weeks before a referendum on Alberta's future in Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday sought to strengthen ties with the province by designating a proposed oil pipeline to the Pacific coast a "project of national interest," a move that speeds its regulatory approval process.
Separatists in the oil-rich prairie province have pointed to longstanding disaffection with the federal government's energy and climate policies, which they say have constrained the oil-and-gas industry, as a key reason they champion independence. The province will vote on Oct. 19 on whether to stay in Canada or to start the process of holding a second, binding referendum on leaving.
Democrats Call for Probe Into Kimberly Guilfoyle's Conduct
The top Democrats on the Senate and House foreign affairs committees urged the State Department to review the conduct of Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, citing a Wall Street Journal investigation into her efforts to promote gas deals with a Greek company across southeastern Europe.
New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described concerns in a Thursday letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Guilfoyle's "inappropriate uses of an official position," including her inclusion of a registered lobbyist in meetings with foreign officials and her promotion of one of the lobbyist's Greek clients and its joint venture with a Greek state-backed company.
Write to nina.kienle@wsj.com