The New York Stock Exchange is set to open sharply higher on Friday morning, following Apple's strong results and the release of data showing that job creation slowed last month.

Half an hour before the opening, futures on the main New York indices climbed from 1.2% to 1.6%, heralding a green start to the session.

The number of jobs created in the United States turned out to be weaker than expected in April, an indicator likely to prompt the Federal Reserve to introduce measures to support activity.

According to the Labor Department, the US economy generated just 175,000 non-farm jobs in April, well below market expectations, which averaged around 250,000.

This is also well below the average of 242.000 job creations per month over the last 12 months.

The unemployment rate also rose by 0.1 points to 3.9%, whereas economists were expecting it to remain stable at 3.8%.

Investors have deduced that these disappointing statistics could prompt the Fed to cut interest rates earlier than expected.

It's rare for US employment figures to miss market estimates, and this could potentially put an end to the 'higher rates for longer than expected' rhetoric to which we were beginning to become accustomed", says Mahmoud Alkudsi, market analyst at ADSS.

As a result, the scenario of a first rate cut in September is back in favor, with the market now setting the probability of monetary easing by that date at over 48%.

On the bond market, the yield on 10-year Treasuries fell back sharply after the publication of the employment figures, to almost 4.48%, while the dollar weakened against the euro, with the single currency rebounding above 1.0790.

US equity markets should also benefit from strong results from Apple, which last night reported 'record' EPS for a quarter ended March.

'Apple's ecosystem, which now has an installed base of over 2.2 billion devices worldwide, continues to grow at a consistent pace, which should enable the group to increase revenues from services, as illustrated by this record performance', reacted analysts at Canaccord Genuity.

The share - down 10% since the start of the year - has gained over 6% in pre-market trading, and should support the entire technology sector.

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