In European Equity Markets indexes closed lower on Friday afternoon as investors digested further earnings reports. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed Friday 1.38 percent lower with every sector trading in negative territory. The index recorded its biggest weekly loss since November 2016 mainly driven by banking stocks and higher yields. Deutsche Bank reported a net loss of about 497 million euros for 2017, its third annual consecutive loss. The stock fell more than 11 percent over the week. Danske Bank bucked the trend was the best performing bank, up by 1.2 percent ion the day, after fourth-quarter numbers beat analyst expectations. Autos were another poorly performing sector. This was after Finnish police decided to start a criminal investigation into the tire-maker Nokian Tyres for alleged product test manipulation. The stock dropped to the bottom of the European benchmark, finishing down by 7 percent.

In Currency Markets the US dollar extended gains against other major currencies on Friday, after data showed that the U.S. economy added more jobs than expected this month, adding to optimism over the strength of the economy. The U.S. Labor Department said the economy added 200,000 jobs in January, beating expectations for a 184,000 gain. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1% this month, in line with expectations. The report also showed that average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in January, as expected. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.50% at 88.92. The euro and the pound pushed lower, with euro down 0.39 percent at 1.2465 and with pound declining 0.62 percent to 1.4348. Elsewhere, the Australian and New Zealand dollars extended losses, with aussie falling 1.08 percent to 0.7952 and kiwi retreating 0.99 percent to 0.7324.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell on Friday as the dollar jumped following strong U.S. jobs numbers, though strong compliance with output cuts by OPEC and rising global demand kept much of the early-year oil rally in place. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.15 a barrel, or 1.7 percent, to $64.66 and has lost more than 2 percent for the week, putting it on track for its biggest weekly loss since October. Brent ,the global benchmark, was down $1.52, or 2.2 percent, to $68.14 a barrel. Gold fell 1 percent on Friday in the wake of stronger than expected U.S. non-farm payrolls data which shored up expectations that the Federal Reserve will press ahead with interest rate hikes this year. Silver was 1.7 percent lower at $16.94 an ounce, while platinum was down 1 percent at $995.30 and palladium was up 0.6 percent at $1,042.97. After hitting record highs this month, palladium fell to its lowest since Dec. 18 at $1,013.72 on Thursday and is on track for its biggest weekly drop since early September, down 4.4 percent.

In US Equity Markets stocks fell on Friday, weighed down by weak earnings reports from blue-chip companies and as a robust U.S. jobs report boosted bond yields and bolstered expectations that the pace of interest rates hikes could pick up. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1 percent, and ten of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, led by the energy index’s 2.97 percent decline.  The S&P 500 was down 0.75 percent, at 2,800.6 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.67 percent, at 7,336.33. Shares of oil majors Exxon and Chevron were down 5 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, after reporting lower-than-expected quarterly profits. Google-parent Alphabet fell 5.2 percent after its profit also misses analysts’ estimates. One bright spot was Amazon, which rose 6.3 percent after the online retailer reported a record profit of near $2 billion due to strong sales and tax law changes.

In Bond Markets Euro zone bond yields extended their rise on Friday after U.S. payroll data indicated that annual wage growth in the world’s biggest economy was the strongest since 2009. Germany’s 10-year government bond yield, the benchmark for the euro zone, hit a day’s high of 0.768 percent, up 4 basis points (bps) on the day, before edging back to 0.757 percent in late trades. The British 10-year government bond yield jumped to 1.609 percent after the data, its highest since May 2016, up 7 bps on the day, as March gilt futures extended losses. Meanwhile, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 2.854 percent, its highest in four years. The gap between U.S. and German 10-year government bond yields, the “transatlantic spread”, widened a touch after the payroll data to 207 bps from 205 bps before, and is close to some of widest historical levels.