Friday, June 5: Indices in Europe bounced back into the green, rounding off a third straight week of gains as the timeliness of a post-coronavirus economic recovery drove investors back into risk assets ahead of the US jobs report. The FTSE 100(+2.25%) was led higher by cyclical stocks on the basis of the aforementioned recovery and travel names after a report cited some European countries were keen to adopt “transport corridors”, allowing Brits to visit Mediterranean resorts without adhering to the 14 day quarantine period on their return.

US job data confounded forecasters and commentators alike as non-farm payrolls printed at +2.5m, and the unemployment rate came in at 13.3%, against forecast numbers of -7.5m and as much as 20% respectively. Private sector payrolls increased by 3m in May, with the largest increases driven by restaurant & bars(1.371m), construction(464k), health care & social assistance(391k) and retail(368k). The unemployment rate dropped to 13.3% in May, from the 14.7% in April, though an adjusted figure is seen as being around the 13.6-13.7% mark once furloughed workers are taken into account. In the wake of the data, risk assets were spurred higher across the board

European markets were higher at the close, with the FTSE 100 +2.25%, the CAC 40 +3.71% and the DAX 30 +3.36%.