Markets mixed after weak US jobs report and military strike on Syria

Markets were mixed on Friday.

The S&P 500 dipped less than 0.1 percent but the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.1 percent and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 percent.

US stocks were held back by a weak employment report. A Labor Department report showed that the US economy created just 98,000 new jobs in March, the smallest gain in almost a year.

Some analysts see a silver lining though.

“It wasn’t exactly a disaster, maybe it backs off some of the ultrahawks [on the Fed] and we only get two rate hikes this year,” said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management Group.

A US military strike against a Syrian airbase on Friday helped boost stocks of defence contractors but Nigam Arora thinks that apart from very mild boosts to gold and oil, markets will not be significantly affected in the long term.