The jobs report is coming out at 8:30 AM ET.
But already, it's been a wild ride in
There were three big stories:
- Chinese bird flu: The Hong Kong market tanked nearly 3%, as the number of bird flu deaths in China rose. Authorities have killed more than 20,000 birds, and shut down one of Shanghai's big poultry
markets . Airline stocks got hammered particularly badly. - North Korea: The rhetoric just keeps getting more intense, and that is proving to be a drag on markets.
- Bank of Japan easing: Japanese stocks initially exploded out of the gate (up by 4.5% at one point) after the Bank of Japan moved much easier on policy. But thanks to Korea and bird flu stuff, the rally faded significantly, with stocks ending up less than 2%. Also it was a gigantic day in the Japanese Government Bond markets, with an initial drop to 0.33% on the 10-year, followed by a spike to 0.58%. At one point the market was halted.
On top of all this, markets in Europe got rocked by a huge futures trade originating out of Germany.
So, fun day!