Wall Street opened higher on Friday morning, buoyed by expectations of a Fed rate cut, themselves fueled by a mediocre employment report.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones advanced 0.2% to 38,877 points, while the Nasdaq Composite nibbled 0.1% to 16,278.5 points.

The optimism shown in recent days was reinforced this morning by monthly employment figures that were mixed, but rather well received by investors.

The monthly report from the Labor Department showed stronger-than-expected job creation in February, but also an unexpected rise in the unemployment rate.

These two elements combined should be enough for Fed officials to decide on a rate cut at the end of the June 20-21 meeting, according to analysts.

Hopes of a rate cut were given a boost this week when Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that monetary easing would be necessary 'at some point' in 2024.

Even more encouragingly, average hourly earnings barely rose (+0.1%), a good sign for inflation and the prospect of a normalization of the central bank's monetary policy.

This seems to be the main reason for today's rise in the equity markets", commented one trader.

This indicator triggered a rise in interest-rate futures, whose trend implies a 60.6% probability of a rate cut in June, compared with 57.1% yesterday, according to the CME Group's FedWatch barometer.

Variations in stock market indices remain limited, however, as investors are clearly finding it difficult to push prices further ahead following the cascade of records recently set.

At less than 4.04%, the ten-year yield hit a one-month low in reaction to the employment statistics, while the dollar is timidly recovering from its bout of weakness in recent days.

The euro thus retreated to around 1.0950.

On the sector front, the real estate index made up for lost time, gaining 1.1% after posting the worst sectoral performance of the S&P 500 so far this year.

On the other hand, the technology index lost more than 1%, posting the worst performance of the day.

Oil prices are showing their heaviness, with a barrel of Texas light crude (WTI) dropping 1.4% to $77.8, heading for a weekly decline of 2.5% after two consecutive weeks of gains.

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