LONDON—Global stock markets traded in narrow ranges Thursday, a day after big gains that were prompted by a sharp rebound in the price of oil. Investors are preparing for Friday’s U.S. monthly payrolls report, which could go a long way to determining whether the Federal Reserve raises interest rates again next month.
Keeping Score
In Europe, the CAC-40 in France was down 0.2 percent at 4,219 while Germany’s DAX fell 0.1 percent to 9,430. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares outperformed its counterparts, trading 0.8 percent higher at 5,882. Wall Street was poised for a soft opening, with Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures down 0.1 percent.
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Investors are positioning themselves for Friday’s payroll numbers. Over the past couple of weeks, they have scaled back expectations that the Fed will continue gradually raising interest rates amid signs that the global slowdown in growth is beginning to hurt the U.S. economy. On Wednesday, for example, the private ISM survey found U.S. services companies grew in January at the slowest rate in nearly two years.
