London, England -- (SBWIRE) --05/11/2011 -- “A much better than expected set of numbers regarding the US labour market was enough to immediately lift European Indices from the heavy weakness suffered over the last few sessions.

US Payrolls lift equities

This week has seen both the FTSE 100 and German DAX indices lose 4% as the prices of commodities such as Gold, Silver and Crude Oil crashed through the floor. However, the US jobs data has left a positive spin to the end of the week’s session and has been enough to encourage investors to pick up some of the more badly beaten stocks that they perceive to be bargains.

Both non farm and private payrolls were much better than expected, giving equities an immediate lift. The FTSE 100 was lifted by 0.8% in the immeditate aftermath of the jobs data being released as traders dived into UK stocks. Investors are taking these figures as a good set of numbers, with US jobs gaining the most in just under a year, whilst the consistency in the growth of non farm payrolls is also pleasing. Of course more people in work above expectations paints a rosier picture for the US economy than expected, hence the jump in equities and Indices. That said, with unemployment rate stubbornly high at 9% now, there remains some way to go in the US labour market recovery.

Banks and Miners see buyers return

Two sector which have been hit particularly hard this week, the banks and the miners, have both seen buyers return today, giving both sectors a bounce of 1%.

The miners, as one would expect having seen the price of Silver fall by 30% along with heavy falls in both Copper and Gold, have been hit hard losing almost 8% this week alone. However, this morning we started to see buyers coming back into the market to pick up some of the badly beaten mining stocks from their lows and this rejuvenation of buyer interest continued when the US jobs data also surprised to the upside.

RBS shares lead London trade

Positive earnings from bank Royal Bank of Scotland has helped to lift the banking sector too. The bank pleased shareholders today by announcing profits had jumped by 25% for the final quarter of last year, reaching £2.1bn. CEO Stephen Hester called the earnings as a sign the company was “pulling off the recovery that they had targeted”. The fact that the banks shares had lost as much as 4% at one point yesterday has also convinced some traders to pick the firm’s shares up from their lows having seen today’s numbers.”

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