Wall Street is expected to open slightly higher on Friday morning, with investors believing that the positive aspects of the latest jobs report reinforce the prospect of another Fed rate cut this month.

Half an hour before the opening, futures on the main New York indices were up by around 0.1%, suggesting a modest advance at the start of the session.

Investors initially seemed to have difficulty interpreting the half-hearted employment figures published by the Labor Department for November.

Although the US economy created 227,000 new jobs last month, a figure well above expectations, the unemployment rate rose by 0.1 points to 4.2%, whereas it was expected to remain stable.

Given that a deterioration in the labor market is considered by the Federal Reserve to be a determining factor in its monetary easing timetable, investors feel that this data, although mixed, should not prevent it from continuing its rate cuts.

We obviously can't over-interpret the significance of an isolated statistic, but it's certain that even a modest rise in the unemployment rate will give arguments to those in favor of a more accommodating policy", reacts a London-based trader.

In this respect, the Fedwatch barometer now gives an 89% probability of a rate cut at the end of the December 17-18 meeting, compared with 66% a week ago.

On the bond front, government bond yields fell again in response to the employment statistics, which seem to have allayed fears of a pause in Fed rate cuts.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries, a barometer of market sentiment on the health of the economy, eased to 4.16%.

The dollar stabilized around the euro, which climbed back to around 1.0585, but headed for losses against the single currency over the week as a whole.

On the oil market, crude prices, down by more than 1%, are heading for a second consecutive week in negative territory, despite signs of sustained supply cuts from OPEC.

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