10 things you should know before opening bell

Moneycontrol Bureau

The US markets finished higher across the board with the Dow setting a new record high and all three major averages up more than 2 percent for the week, boosted by a stronger-than-expected monthly government payrolls number. For the week, the Dow jumped 2.18 percent, the S&P 500 soared 2.17 percent, and the Nasdaq rallied 2.35 percent.

The US economy created 236,000 new jobs in February; trumping expectations for a gain of 160,000. Service industries led the gains with 73,000 new jobs.

The unemployment rate declined to 7.7 percent, its lowest level since December 2008. This reading beat economists projections of a 7.8 percent rate.

In other economic data, January wholesale inventories expanded by 1.2 percent. Economists had forecast inventories would rise 0.3 percent versus a drop of 0.1 percent in December.

Meanwhile, the strong US jobs data sent the European markets higher. FTSE closed at a five year high. For the week the European markets too ended higher. Spain's IBEX added around 6 % for the week. Italy’s MIB ended the week with a gain of around 5%.

The DAX and the CAC gained around 4.5 percent each for the week while the FTSE too was up around 2 percent. Greece's Athex bucked the trend and ended the week in the red.

Ratings agency Fitch on Friday cut Italy's sovereign credit rating by one notch to BBB+, citing political uncertainty after the country's inconclusive election and rising debt.

In other asset classes, euro slips to sub 1.30 to the dollar. The dollar index strengthens, inches towards the 83 mark. In commodities, Brent crude hovers around USD 110 levels.