US mkts end marginally higher on expectations of Fed easing

By Gautam Broker, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

The US equity markets ended marginally higher, supported by expectations of Fed easing. Employment situation report was much weaker-than-expected.
Non-farm payrolls for August stood at 96,000 as against expectation of 1,25,000 while private payrolls stood at 1,03,000 as against expectation of 1,34,000
July Non-farm payrolls revised down to 1,41,000 as against 1,63,000 (provisional reading)
Unemployment rate went down to 8.1% from 8.3% but primarily due to lower labor participation.
Spanish, Italian debt rally continued; Spain's 10-year bond yields fell over 30 basis points on day to 5.6% (Lowest since April)
Spain's 2-year bond yields dropped below 3% while Italy's 2-year was down to 2.3%.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde backs ECB chairman Mario Draghi; she says IMF is willing to supervise conditionality.
China data released yesterday; CPI increased to 2% in August as against 1.8% in previous month, which is inline with consensus.
China Industrial Production was at 8.9% as against expectation of 9%; Retail Sales grew 13.2% (at same pace in previous month), in-line with expectations.
US markets at close: Dow Jones gained 0.1% at 13,306.6 and S&P 500 Index rose 0.4% to 1,437.9 while Nasdaq was flat
US last week:  Dow Jones jumped 1.6% while S&P 500 index advanced 2.2%. Nasdaq Composite rallied 2.3% (to 12-year high).
European markets on Friday: DAX gained 0.7% while CAC and FTSE were up 0.3% each. Spain rose 0.3% and Italy climbed 2.1%. Important week coming up
Wednesday: German court ruling on ESM, Unveiling of EU banking union plan,  Dutch General Elections 
Thursday:  FOMC Rate Decision, Bernanke Press Conference
Friday: EU Finance Ministers' meet on Spain, Greece   Asia Today
Shanghai was up 0.3%
Taiwan Weighted and Hang Seng rose 0.4%
Straits Times gained 0.3% and Kospi was up 0.2%
Nikkei fell 0.1% Currencies
Euro rallied smartly after weak US employment report.
Euro rose to 1.282 against the US dollar on Friday - At its highest since May 22.
Dollar Index breached 200 DMA and even broke the support zone of 81.
Dollar Index hit a low of 80.15 on Friday - At lowest point since May 11. Commodities
CRB Index rallied on Friday led by gold and copper
Gold hit a 6-month high of USD 1745 an ounce on Friday, which rose 2% to close at USD 1740 an ounce.
Copper touched a four-month high, rising 3.5% on positive cues from China. China unveiled USD 157 billion worth of infrastructure projects today.
LME copper hit an intraday high above USD 8000 per tonne on Friday as against USD 7700 per tonne on Thursday
Brent and WTI Crude rose nearly 1% on Friday.
Commodities were marginally in the green today What to watch out for
Eurozone Investor Confidence
US Consumer Credit