FTSE falls as investors wait for US jobs report

The FTSE 100 fell 0.3% this morning as investors braced for the release of US jobs data this afternoon as this will indicate the strength of the economy and whether the Federal Reserve can cut interest rates in September as the market hopes.

The US is expected to report a strong labour market, with the economy adding 185,000 jobs in May, which would mark an increase from April, and unemployment remaining at two-year highs, analysts forecast.

‘The Federal Reserve will of course take these figures into account, but barring anything wilding off-course, the figures are unlikely to shake policymakers off the course already charted. Optimism remains in the market that two cuts could be on the way this year,’ Hargreaves Lansdown’s chief equity analyst Sophie Lund-Yates said.