REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
A human rights activist walks through a native forest at the Pupio estuary in the middle of the road between a waste deposit tank of Los Pelambres mine and Caimanes town at the El Mauro valley. Locals claim that the tank has diverted the course of a local estuary, causing water shortages at a time of drought in the region.
It's jobs day. The March US employment report is due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. The consensus is calling for the addition of 245,000 jobs with the unemployment rate holding steady at 5.5%. The US 10-year yield is down 1 basis point at 1.90%.
US stock markets are closed and US futures markets will close early. CME stock futures will wrap up trading at 9:15 a.m. ET while interest rate futures will finish for the day at 11:15 a.m. ET.
Markets around much of the world are closed. Stock markets in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and most other places are shuttered in observance of Good Friday.
Apple reportedly selects Samsung to make chips for the next iPhone. Samsung reclaims the job from Taiwan Semiconductor after losing out on the previous model.
There are conflicting reports on Greece. Late Thursday, the Telegraph reported Greece's government is preparing to leave the euro and miss its April 9 payment to the International Monetary Fund unless its creditors back down from some of their tough demands. However, a Reuters report out Friday morning says the troubled country will make its debt payments on time. The euro is up 0.1% at 1.0887.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will travel to Moscow. Tsipras is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 8. Reuters reports the two sides will "discuss economic ties and the European Union's sanctions against Moscow."
China's HSBC Services PMI improved. China's services sector straightened for a second straight month as the Purchase Manager's Index ticked up to 52.3 from its previous reading of 52.0. Notable was the slight uptick in employment in the sector. China's yuan was little changed at 6.1944 per dollar.
Cyprus will remove its capital controls. The decision follows two years of restrictions on depositors, which were imposed as part of the country's 10 billion euro bailout. Bloomberg reports, "The last restrictions on international transfers will be lifted on April 6."
Turkey's inflation unexpectedly quickened. Inflation ticked up to 7.61% in March from a 7.55% reading in February. Notable was the jump in food prices, which grew at a 14.1% year-over-year clip. Turkey's lira is down 0.3% at 2.5935 per dollar.
Asian stock markets gained. China's Shanghai Composite (+1.1%) led Asian markets higher while Japan's Nikkei (+0.6%) lagged.