US non-farm payrolls (employment) rose by 200,000 in December, ahead of forecasts centred on a gain of 150,000. Private sector jobs rose by 212,000 and the jobless rate fell from 8.7pct to a near three-year low of 8.5pct. Average earnings rose by 0.2pct.

Chinese banks extended 640.5 billion yuan ($101.51 billion) in new loans in December, up from 562.2 billion yuan in November, data from the People´s Bank of China showed on Sunday. Annual growth in M2 money supply rose from 12.7pct to 13.6pct in December.

European shares were mixed on Friday. Investors were encouraged by the US jobs report but there was caution ahead of Monday´s meeting between German, French and Italian leaders and the start of the US earnings season. Bank stocks also eased. The FTSEurofirst index rose by 0.03pct and rose 1.2pct over the week. The UK FTSE rose 0.5pct on Friday and German Dax fell by 0.6pct.

US sharemarkets ended mixed on Friday. While investors cheered the US jobs report, investors chose to book profits ahead of the profit-reporting season. Alcoa kicks off the season with its earnings report on Monday. At the close of trade, the Dow Jones was down by 55 points or 0.5pct but while the S&P 500 was lower by 0.3pct, the Nasdaq was higher by 4pts or 0.2pct. Over the week the Dow Jones rose by 1.2pct with the S&P 500 up 1.6pct and Nasdaq up 2.7pct.

US longer-term treasuries rose on Friday (yields lower) as investors took profits on equities and put funds back into government bonds. US 2yr yields were flat at 0.26pct but US 10yr yields eased by 4pts to 1.96pct. Over the week US 2yr yields rose by 1.5pts and US 10yr yields rose by 8pts.

The US dollar was mixed on Friday as investors weighed good US jobs data with uncertainty about Europe. The Euro fell from highs near $1.2815 to around US$1.2700 and finished US trade near US$1.2715. The Euro is at $1.2685 this morning. The Aussie dollar held between US102.00c and US102.65c, and closed US trade near US102.30c. The Aussie is near US102.00c this morning. The Japanese yen rose from 77.30 yen per US dollar to near JPY76.95, closing US trade near JPY77.00 and is near JPY76.85 today.

World crude oil prices were mixed on Friday. Supporting prices was the strong US jobs report and geopolitical risks in Iran and Nigeria. But weighing on prices was profit-taking and a stronger greenback. Nymex crude oil fell by US25c or 0.2pct to US$101.56 a barrel but London Brent crude rose by US32c to US$113.06 a barrel. Over the week Nymex rose by 2.8pct and Brent rose by 5.3pct.

Base metals were mixed on Friday. Tin fell less than 0.1pct and lead fell 2.5pct but other metals rose 0.5-1.6pct. Over the week metals were mixed with lead down 3.8pct and copper down 0.3pct but other metals were higher with tin up 3.4pct. Meanwhile the gold price fell for the first time in six sessions in choppy trade as the better-than-expected US jobs report reduced demand for safe-haven assets. The Comex February gold price fell by US$3.30 or 0.2pct to US$1,620.10 an ounce. Over the week gold rose by 3.2pct.

Ahead: In Australia, retail trade data is released. In the US, consumer credit and the employment trends index are released.