European stocks rallied Thursday morning as investors prepare for the next reading of US nonfarm payrolls data due Friday.

 

Pan-European Stoxx 600 added 0.3% by mid-morning, with tourism and leisure stocks up 1.1%, while fixed assets fell 0.6%.

 

Investors around the world are watching closely the release of data from the US in the next few days. Markets await the weekly initial jobless claims report on Thursday and the Labor Department's nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.

 

Dow Jones estimates the non-farm jobs report for August is expected to add 720,000 new jobs and drop the unemployment rate to 5.2%.

 

The data could influence when the US Federal Reserve starts to cut its asset purchase program, as well as the direction of central bank policy in Europe. US stock futures remained largely unchanged on Wednesday night.

 

Recent statements from the central bank indicate that it is likely to slow the pace of monthly bond purchases if job growth continues at a rapid pace.

 

Meanwhile, stocks in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed overnight as investors reacted to trade data and corporate news from the region; Australia had a trade surplus of A $ 12.117 billion (about $ 8.93 billion), according to figures released Thursday by the country's Bureau of Statistics.

 

Stocks in mainland China were mixed after Chinese regulators called and interviewed 11 companies calling on passengers to correct “illegal behavior.”

 

Regarding the development of a vaccine against Covid, Moderna and Takeda Pharmaceutical announced Wednesday that they are working with Japanese authorities to recall several shipments after stainless steel contaminants were found in some vials.

 

In terms of individual share price movements, Sweden's Orphan Biovitrum gained more than 24% after US venture capital firms Advent International and Aurora Investment offered to buy a biopharmaceutical company from Stockholm at SEK 235 (US $ 27.30 ) per share.

 

At the bottom of the European blue-chip index, mining giant BHP fell 6% trading without dividends.