The National Times - Stocks rally loses steam as economic concerns return

Wall Street indices were showing modest gains in late morning trading, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.1 percent.

Eurozone markets ended the day lower after underwhelming business survey data in Europe.

"After their exuberant performance last week, stocks have seen a quieter session, with some profit-taking in Europe and Wall Street eking out only small gains," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG.

"Last week's action-packed sessions saw a step-change in the outlook for global central bank policy, convincing investors that the period of steady rate increases is behind us," he added.

After a tough year for traders, the Fed's decision last week to pause on monetary policy for a second meeting and hint that it would not tighten further has provided some much-needed vigour, and sparked talk of a new year cut.

Those hopes were given a boost Friday by figures showing far fewer jobs than expected were created in October, while other data pointed to a slowing economy, easing pressure on policymakers to lift rates further.

All three main indexes on Wall Street jumped Friday after the jobs reading, which also fuelled bets on an interest rate cut by June, while Treasury yields eased back from 16-year highs.

The dollar recovered some ground after falling last week expectations that the Fed would not lift rates any further.

While the economic data out of the United States has been reassuring, the same cannot be said for Europe, with the latest eurozone business survey coming in at a nearly three-year low.

"It seems like sentiment has definitely been impacted by disappointing PMIs from European economies which came in below expectations in Italy and France," XTB analyst Walid Koudmani told AFP.

"Furthermore, the geopolitical situation continues to be troubling... in the Middle East conflict."

Israeli forces pushed on with intense strikes targeting Palestinian militants in Gaza on Monday as the war neared one month and the Hamas-run health ministry's death toll exceeded 10,000 inside the besieged territory.

Determined to destroy Hamas whose October 7 attack left 1,400 dead in Israel and saw over 240 hostages taken, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed no let-up despite mounting international calls for a ceasefire.

Oil prices ticked higher after key producers Saudi Arabia and Russia said they would stick to their output curbs until the end of the year.

The news came after the commodity fell more than six percent last week as investors grew optimistic that the Israel-Hamas conflict would not spill over into a wider war in the crude-rich Middle East.

- Key figures around 1630 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 34,094.56 points

London - FTSE 100: FLAT at 7,013.73 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.4 percent at 15,135.97 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 percent at 7,013.73 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.4 percent at 4,158.64 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.4 percent at 32,708.48 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.7 percent at 17,966.59 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,058.41 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0744 from $1.0731 on Friday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2387 from $1.2380

Dollar/yen: UP at 149.83 yen from 149.39 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 86.71 from 86.67 pence

Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.3 percent at $86.01 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.7 percent at $81.88 per barrel

burs-rl/giv

N.Roberts--TNT