CNBC have pinned the blame for today’s losses on Peter Navarro, a trade advisor to president Trump.

Navarro’s told CNN earlier that Trump would “simply raise” tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods if no deal is reached during the cease-fire. Cue a sell-off....

It’s hard to remember now, but this week began with optimism following Donald Trump’s dinner date with Xi Jinping.

On Monday, investors were talking about a ‘trade truce’. Now, they’re looking at a 5% drop in US stocks over the week:

Ernie Cecilia, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust Co, blames this week’s market gyrations on a “repricing of growth.”

Cecilia says (via Bloomberg):

The bond market is essentially saying we don’t see the kind of growth that we’ve had. So what the market is doing is repricing stocks, particularly those that have performed extraordinarily well, to a lower growth rate.

More details of Meng Wanzhou’s bail hearing:

The Nasdaq is now down 3%, as a late burst of selling hits the index.

Technology stocks are being hit hard tonight, as persistent worries about trade wars ripple through Wall Street again.

Chip makers, and consumer electronics companies such as Apple, are leading the sell-off.

Today’s losses risk dragging the Dow Jones industrial average into a bear market:

Shares in US Steel are down 1.45% today, reflecting concerns over trade relations between America and China.

That’s not too bad a fall...but look at the picture since Donald Trump started imposing tariffs:

Although today’s US jobs report showed fewer new jobs than expected, and less wage growth, it wasn’t a shocker.

Here’s Marketwatch’s take:

The jobs report threaded the needle really well,” J.J. Kinahan, chief market strategist with TD Ameritrade told MarketWatch, arguing that 155,000 new jobs is neither too high nor too low for investors.

“Had the this come in really hot, the market would have interpreted it as a number that would force the Fed to raise rates not just in December, but in March too,” he said. “You also didn’t want to miss in a huge way on the down side, as it would have shaken faith in the economy,” he said.

Here’s a neat chart showing where jobs were created, and lost, in the US last month:

David Madden of CMC Markets blames conflicting noises from White House advisors for the losses in New York today.

Markets have had a volatile few days and today is no different. The Major US indices rallied on the open, but turned lower yet again. The sharp move on Wall Street is partially driven by conflicting announcements from Washington DC. Larry Kudlow, director of the US national economic council, claimed the Federal Reserve responds to data, not President Trump. Mr Kudlow also said the US might extend the 90-day truce with China if talks don’t go well.

On the other hand, Peter Navarro ,advisor to Trump ,claims the US will press ahead with new tariffs if a deal hasn’t been reached after the 90 day period.

The non-farm payrolls report was “mediocre”, Madden adds.

In November, 155,000 jobs were added, which was well below the 200,000 that economists were expecting. The October report was revised down to 237,000 from 250,000. The jobless rate remained unchanged at 3.7% - meeting forecasts. On a monthly basis, average earnings was 0.2%, but traders were expecting 0.3%, and the October reading was revised down to 0.1% from 0.2% The yearly average earnings reading held steady at 3.1%.

There were positive aspects to the report, but the negatives made traders less fearful about potential rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

Back on Wall Street, the Dow is over 400 points down, or 1.6%.

Here’s Investing.com senior analyst Barani Krishnan on the Opec deal:

”Oil traders will react positively to the OPEC deal to cut 1.2 million barrels per day...

However, the market will also be watching for any signs of cheating by OPEC and punish the cartel accordingly.

”The bigger takeaway is what the Saudi Energy Minister would possibly have on his mind as he leaves Vienna today; a Russia that has become as powerful to OPEC as Riyadh and a U.S. that is now a net exporter of oil.

“Furthermore, we’ve not even gotten to the Khashoggi fallout and likely Trump dismay over these cuts. One can only speculate at this point to how this will play out for the Saudis and their oil business going forward.”

European markets are holding onto their gains.

With 30 minutes to go, the FTSE 100 is up 1.9% at 6831, a 127-point swing upwards.

Here’s our US business editor Dominic Rushe on today’s US jobs report:

America’s record breaking streak of job creation appears to be slowing. The Labor Department announced the US had added 155,000 in November, well below last month’s figures and economists’ forecasts.

November was the 98th consecutive month of growth in hiring, the longest streak of jobs growth since records began. But the pace of hiring slowed dramatically last month. The US added 250,000 jobs in October and economists had expected 198,000 new jobs to be added this month.

The unemployment rate remained at 3.7%, a low unseen since 1969, and the US is still adding around 200,000 jobs a month. But some market watchers believe the recovery is running out of steam.

More here....

Uh oh.... Wall Street is turning south.

The Dow is now down 203 points, or around 0.8%, at 24,743 points.

The Nasdaq is also in the red, down 1%, while the S&P 500 has lost 0.6%.

Technology stocks are leading the sell-off, with IBM and Intel both down 2.2%, Apple losing 1.6% and Microsoft down 1%.

Caterpillar, maker of construction equipment, is down 1.5% while Nike has lost 1.2%.

Over in Vienna, Opec has finally agreed a deal to cut oil production.

After long, tense wrangling, the oil cartel has agreed to cut its production by 800,000 barrels per day. Non-member states (such as Russia) will cut their production by an extra 400,000, taking the total reduction to 1.2 million barrels per day.

News of the cut has sent crude prices rallying; Brent crude is up 5% to $63.15 per barrel, up three dollars.

Iran, Libya and Venezuela reportedly exempt from the decision.
Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told the IRNA news agency:

“Negotiations were tough; thank God, we are pleased with this level of reduction in oil supply.”

Marina Mensah-Afoakwah, senior economist at the CEBR, suspects that the US Federal Reserve will vote to raise interest rates later this month.

While today’s figures in isolation may not give a reason for concern, the context in which they have arisen could cause some anxiety.

If the weak global outlook persists amid current trade tensions, future job growth in the US may continue to disappoint.”

She also sent over this chart, showing how the US unemployment rate has fallen steadily to just 3.7%, the lowest since 1969.

The Dow is pushing higher.... now up 120 points, as New York investors recover their nerve. But will it last?...

So far, so calm.....

Today’s jobs report shows that the US economy is slowing, but not drastically, says Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics.

He’s written a thorough note on November’s Non-Farm Payroll....and here it is:

The slightly more modest 155,000 gain in payroll employment in November may not go down well in markets given the heightened nervousness in recent months, but this is still a solid gain that suggests economic growth is gradually slowing back towards its potential pace.

There is nothing here to suggest the economy is suffering a more sudden downturn.

Admittedly, 155,000 was below the consensus forecast at 200,000 and the six-month average, which was slightly above 200,000. But gains of that magnitude should still be enough to keep the unemployment rate grinding lower. Looking at the employment breakdown, manufacturing increased by a healthy 27,000, retail added 18,000 and transportation added 25,000 (including 10,000 couriers ahead of the Holiday season). Leisure & hospitality added only 15,000, however, and education & health added only 34,000. Both below normal. State governments also shed 13,000 employees.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at only 3.7% last month, as a 233,000 gain in the household survey measure of employment more than offset a 133,000 increase in the labour force. That said, the broader U6 measure of unemployment did rebound to 7.6%, from 7.4%. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.2% m/m in November, with the annual growth rate unchanged at 3.1%.

Overall, employment growth may be fading a little from the unsustainable pace in the first half of this year, but there is nothing here to unduly worry the Fed or prevent it from hiking interest rates at this month’s FOMC meeting.

The European stock markets are all pushing higher, clawing back more of yesterday’s losses.

Britain’s FTSE 100 is leading the way, up almost 2%, with solid gains on Germany’s DAX (0.8%) and France’s CAC (+1.5%).

This seems to confirm that traders are relieved that the US economy is still creating jobs, but not so rapidly to force several interest rate hikes in 2019.

Matt Weller of Faraday Investment Research says:

America created tens of thousands more jobs in transportation and warehousing last month, as online shopping continued to expand.

Today’s non-farm payroll report shows that:

Employment in transportation and warehousing rose by 25,000 in November

Job gains occurred in couriers and messengers (+10,000) and in warehousing and storage (+6,000). Over the year, transportation and warehousing has added 192,000 jobs.

America’s service sector created the bulk of the new jobs last month, hiring around 132,000 new workers.

Factories also expanded their workforces, with 27,000 new hires.

Economics professor Justin Wolfers reckons today’s jobs report will reassure the Federal Reserve that they have the situation under control.

With jobs still being created, and wages rising modestly, there’s little sign that the economy is over-heating.

This jobs report doesn’t have much cheer for US workers, although the unemployment rate remained at just 3.7%.

Bad news IS good news for the markets!

The UK’s FTSE is now up by 112 points, or 1.7%, close to its highest point of the day.

Wall Street future, which has been down earlier, are recovering too.

More disappointment! US wages only grew by 0.2% month-on-month in November, dashing hopes of a 0.3% rise.

That’s a blow to US families in the run-up to the festive season.

Annual wage growth was 3.1%, the same as in October.

Brad Bechtel, global head of FX at Jefferies, predicts that shares will fall if the US jobs report beats forecasts....and rise if it misses.

As he puts it on Bloomberg TV:

Good equals bad, and bad equals good.

That’s because the markets will assume that the US Federal Reserve will step in to support the economy, if required.

We’ll find out if he’s right very soon!

Word from the White House....

As City traders grab a quick sandwich before the US jobs report (oh the glamour!), here’s a look at the markets.

• FTSE 100: Up 80 points at 6784, a gain of 1.2%
  
• German DAX: Up 49 points at 10,860, a gain of 0.4%
  
• French CAC: Up 61 points at 4,842, a gain of 1.3%
  

Definitely a recovery, but a relatively muted one given European markets shed more than 3% on Thurday.

A reminder of how the US monthly job-creation figures have bounced around in recent months:

The London stock exchange is holding onto most of its early gains, as City traders turn their attention across the Atlantic.

Huawei’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou, is expected at a bail hearing in Canada later today. That might yield more information about why she was arrested, and whether she’ll be extradited to the US.

Mihir Kapadia of Sun Global Investments says investors are worried that Meng’s arrest will destabilise US-China relations.

China and the US continue to have frosty relations and this has seen investors prefer to stay away than get involved in what has proven to be a volatile market for quite some time now. This reversed the hope felt earlier in the week after it was announced the US would delay tariffs on China in the aim of making progress but it is now clear that this negativity will last until the new year.”

Traders will also be watching for the US jobs report, in 30 minutes. Wall Street expects that around 200,000 new jobs were created last month, with wages rising by 0.3% month-on-month, or 3.1% year-on-year.

A strong report might rock markets, as it would put pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in 2019. But weak job creation, and paltry earnings growth, could force the Fed to leave borrowing costs alone - which is good for equities.

The Bank of England is already under fire over its warning about a no-deal Brexit. But it now faces another storm.

Top officials from Venezuela have flown to London, to ask for 14 tonnes of their gold back.

The Press Association has the details:

The Bank is reportedly due to meet Calixto Ortega Sanchez, president of the Venezuelan Central Bank, and Simon Zerpa, the Venezuelan minister of finance, over the repatriation of 550 million US dollars (431 million) of gold.

The Bank is the second largest depository of gold and has been holding Venezuela’s gold deposits since the 1980s.

Andrew Lewer MP wrote to the Bank and the Treasury, criticising the move, saying a meeting “would pose significant reputational risk to the Bank and may be in violation of US Treasury imposed sanctions”.

Mr Lewer said Mr Zerpa has been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department and that Mr Ortega Sanchez “is not a legitimate president” of the Venezuelan Central Bank as his appointment “was not ratified by the National Assembly”.

“It is entirely inappropriate for senior officials of the Bank of England to meet with an individual who has been placed on the US sanctions list for reasons of corruption. To treat with such an individual would threaten the reputation of both the Bank of England and the Government as a whole,” Mr Lewer said.

Although the markets are up today, fears over the global economy haven’t gone away.

Royal Bank of Canada have cautioned that Chinese trade data due out on Saturday should be watched very closely, for signs that export growth have dropped.

RBC’s Sue Trinh says:

There is compelling evidence that exports, which have surprised significantly to the upside in the last three months, have been boosted by front-loading ahead of successive tranches of tariffs.

Export growth (in yuan terms) is expected to slow to 14% year-on-year from 20% previously (or from 16% to 9% in US dollar terms).

But as the chart shows, there is potential for a much sharper weakening, this month or in the coming one to three months. Exports in the sectors first affected by tariffs (steel and aluminium) are already falling from their June peak.

The FTSE 250 index, which contains smaller UK-focused companies, is also recovering today.

It’s gained 193 points, or over 1%.

Games Workshop, the miniature wargaming firm, is among the top risers, up over 5%.

It told shareholders this morning that sales and profits are in line with expectations, and that its Warhammer business is in “great shape in our core markets.”

But while demand for GW’s intricately-designed Cataphractii Terminators, Taurox armoured personnel carriers and chainsword-toting missionaries is holding up now, an economic shock could change that.

Last week, company founder Ian Livingstone warned that Brexit could destabilise the UK’s gaming sector, which contributes around £2bn to the UK economy per year.

Paul Donovan of UBS Wealth Management believes the threat of new US tariffs on Chinese goods caused Thursday’s sell-off.

But on the upside, he reckons today’s non-farm payroll jobs report will show American workers are in demand.

Equity markets had a bad day on Thursday. The fear of additional US trade taxes is really not being well received, and investors seem to see the risk as rising.

Otherwise, economic data was generally pretty good. Today’s US employment report is more likely to show firms struggling to find people to hire, than a lack of jobs available.

Speaking of slowing economies...new data have confirmed that the eurozone only grew by 0.2% in the last quarter.

The single currency bloc was dragged down by Germany, which contracted by 0.2%, and Italy which shrank by 0.1%.

The UK outperformed the average, though, expanding by 0.6% thanks to strong growth in July.

Ralf Preusser, head of rates research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says recent market instability is mainly due to concerns about the underlying global economy.

That includes the impact of the US-China trade dispute, and worries that we are approaching the end of the economic cycle (ie, heading towards a recession)

Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Preusser explains that the markets are paying “particular attention” to the Federal Reserve, to see how US central bankers handle the situation.

Will the Fed recognise these fears, and try to engineer a soft landing (by being more cautious about rate hikes)? Or will they press on, given that economic data suggests the US economy isn’t really slowing at all, he explains.

Consumer-facing firms, telecoms, tech and industrial companies are leading the rally in London:

Good news! £27bn has been wiped back onto the value of Britain’s biggest companies this morning.

Connor Campbell of SpreadEx says the markets are recovering today thanks to the last minute recovery on Wall Street last night.

The European markets were granted a reprieve on Friday, the Dow Jones’ last minute retreat from the cliff edge on Thursday night paving the way for a greener end to the week.

Though Beijing are very much displeased with the arrest of Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou – China’s media labelled her detention as ‘despicable’ – the fact the country nevertheless announced it was ‘immediately’ applying the trade truce measures agreed with the US appears to have helped reassure the markets that the relationship between the two superpowers hasn’t yet reverted back to its warmongering worst.

Shares continue to climb in London, pushing the FTSE 100 index up by 80 points.

All but three members of the Footsie have jumped this morning - quite a contrast with yesterday when all but three fell.

Scottish Mortgage, the investment trust, is leading the rally - up 4%. Supermarket chain is next, up 3.6%, followed by takeaway delivery group Just Eat (+3.3%).

Associated British Food is dragging the index down, though. It has shed 2.5% after warning of difficult trading at its Primark fashion chain.

Neil Wilson of Markets.com thinks the Brexit crisis has also hurt UK shares.

The FTSE suffered a bruising session on Thursday, declining more than three per cent to close at 6,704.05.

There is still lots of pressure on the UK. For the FTSE this is about more than trade wars and the Fed, there is a real political risk premium being factored into shares now as we approach the Brexit crunch.

China’s media are usually a good indication of how leaders in Beijing see an issue.

And today, they’ve savaged the US over the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, calling it a ‘despicable’ attempt to undermine Chinese enterprise.

My colleague Lily Kuo explains:

State-run China Daily said the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer appeared to be part of US efforts to contain the company, which is the world’s largest telecoms equipment provider, as well as its second-largest mobile phone maker.

“One thing that is undoubtedly true and proven is the US is trying to do whatever it can to contain Huawei’s expansion in the world simply because the company is the point man for China’s competitive technology companies,” the editorial said.

State-run tabloid Global Times said: “Obviously Washington is resorting to a despicable rogue’s approach as it cannot stop Huawei’s 5G advance in the market.”

Asia-Pacific stock markets recovered after the Chinese government announced it would ‘immediately’ enforce measures agreed with the US under their trade war truce.

But there’s still anxiety on the trading floors, as Associated Press explains:

Asian shares are moderately higher as worries over U.S.-China trade friction were calmed by conciliatory comments from Beijing.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.8 percent to 21,678.68, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent to 5,681.50. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.3 percent to 2,075.76. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.1 percent lower to 26,133.53, while the Shanghai Composite was flat at 2,605.89. Shares also rose in India, Indonesia and Taiwan.

“Clouded with much uncertainty, markets will likely remain jittery and may struggle to hold on to the gains,” said Jayden Loh, a trader at IG in Singapore.