GLOBAL STOCKS STUMBLE AS YIELDS RISE ON TIGHT US LABOR MARKET

Bonds sold off and global equity markets failed to fully shake off New Year blues on Thursday after U.S. unemployment data indicated a resilient labor market, tempering expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in 2024. The yield on 10-year Treasuries jumped above 4% in a sharp reversal from last week, when the benchmark note slid to a five-month low of 3.783% on recent data showing inflation by some measures had declined close to the Fed's 2% target. Major equity indexes in Europe closed higher, with the pan-regional STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) up 0.69%, helping MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) to tread higher for most of the session. Wall Street closed mixed, with the Dow (.DJI) eking out a gain as the Nasdaq (.IXIC) and the S&P 500 (.SPX) dived, to pull MSCI's global index close down 0.03%. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, data showed. Separately, the ADP National Employment Report showed U.S. private employers hired more workers than expected in December.

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