Market overview: Stocks edge higher, precious metals miners leap forward

1630:Close A moderately weaker than expected reading on US non-farm payrolls for April saw several major brokers push back their calls for the next Fed rate hike to September of 2016. That gave gold futures a leg up and boosted shares of precious metals miners, with the likes of Centamin carving out a new 52-week high. High-yielding shares such as those of Pearson also got a bid on the back of those economic headlines. StanChart and HSBC were conspicuously lower ahead of this weekend’s slate of Chinese data. Inmarsat was placed into a lower orbit by investors a day after warning on revenues, the Lex column’s corporate finance wonks mused aloud. FTSE 100 up 8.45 points to 6,125.70.

1453: "All the hit relative to previous months is in retail, down 3K after averaging 53K over the previous three months. This is a clear outlier and will rebound next month; Easter seasonals might be to blame for the April hit. Total May payrolls will be constrained by 40K, though, if the Verizon strike is not settled very soon. [...] We're sticking to our view that the next hike will come in Sep. [...] This is a cautious Fed, and they'll think the price of waiting is low," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

1452: "On net, the softening in April payroll growth, led by the service-providing sector, will likely raise concerns over the sustainability of US growth. [...] If the economy improves along the lines of our baseline forecast, there is risk of a second rate hike this year in December. Given our outlook for continued modest growth and further declines in the unemployment rate, we maintain our outlook for three hikes in 2017, but we push out our expectation for balance sheet runoff into 2018," Michael Gapen, Rob Martin and Jesse Hurwitz at Barclays said.

1330: US non-farm payrolls increased by 160,000 in April versus a consensus forecast for a rise of 200,000. Revisions to the prior two months of data lopped off an additional combined 19,000 jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by 0.3% month-on-month, in-line with forecasts (but March was revised down). Unemployment rate steady at 5.0% (consensus: 4.9%).

1312: Macquarie reiterates 'outperform' and 180p target price on Glencore.

1114: Shares in precious metals miners are top of the leaderboard on both the Footsie and FTSE 250, with Centamin back near its 52-week highs. Ahead of today's US jobs report gold futures for next month delivery on COMEX are up by 0.81% to $1,282.60/oz., while the US dollar spot index is slipping 0.20% to 93.59.

0930: Copper is trading at $4,790 per metric tonne versus $4,818 per tonne yesterday, according to traders, who point out that the metal is on track for its worst weekly performance since January 2015 (down by -5.3% at last count) on the back of demand concerns and a stronger US dollar. In his usual cheery tone, SocGen's Albert Edwards has this to say about recent US dollar weakness: "The weak dollar should be seen as merely a shuffling of deckchairs on the Titanic before the global economy sinks below the icy waves."

0924: "It would appear that yesterday’s scrapping of revenue guidance that had only recently been given (early March FY results) [by Inmarsat] is continuing to send a bad signal to investors. Capitulation is never a good sign, suggesting trading conditions in key segments deteriorating at light speed, faster than even an optimistic management can put a positive spin on," says Mike van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets. In parallel, investors in Interserve are getting shot to shreds out on the second tier index.

0900: Private new car registrations in the UK fell 2.5% year-over-year in April, well below the +7.8% average growth rate of the previous twelve months. "In one line: Consumer caution extends beyond retail spending," says Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Samuel Tombs.

0857: The Footsie is staging a bit of a bounce back with some interest rate sensitive stocks like SSE or homebuilders doing better, alongside a bit of a bid in the likes of Tesco and Lloyds. Second-tier index has nudged into positive territory.

0834: Stock in Man Group is the worst performer on the Stoxx 600 on the heels of a double downgrade out of analysts at Citi to 'sell' with a 120p target price.

0818: Stocks have started the session moving sharply lower, weighed down by miners on the back of renewed weakness in commodity futures in China. Overnight, iron ore futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell by over 4% to 404.5 yuan, their weakest mark since 18 April, alongside drops in the prices for other steel-making ingredients. That comes ahead of this afternoon's employment reports in the States, above all, and in Canada. Randgold and AstraZeneca are the only stocks trading in the black on the top flight index at the moment. Also overnight, in its quarterly policy statement the Reserve Bank of Australia described the outlook for China's economy as a "key risk". FTSE 100 down by 32 points to 6,085.51.