In my Friday newsletters, I'll now offer you an overview of

the day's market-moving news, a quick glimpse into some top

events to watch out for next week, and a list of some stories

you may have missed amid all the market ructions.

Today's Market Minute

* Trump has suspended the 25% tariffs he had imposed this

week on

most goods from Canada and Mexico, sowing more confusion in

already whipsawed markets and fanning worries about inflation

and growth.

* Justin Trudeau says the U.S. tariff war is going to drag

on for

the foreseeable future. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

says the Canadian premier is a 'numbskull'.

* Trump has signed an executive order to establish a

strategic

bitcoin reserve, but the crypto world isn't wowed.

* European leaders have agreed to hike their defence

spending and

to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Trump's reversal of

U.S. policies.

* And finally, the market will get a look at the first

monthly

non-farm payrolls report under Trump's watch.

Wall St turns to jobs picture

On or off? Partial or universal? Higher or lower? Business and

markets have no clear idea what U.S. import tariffs are going to

be, a gnawing uncertainty about trade and prices that could

potentially prove as corrosive as the tariffs themselves.

Attention now turns squarely to the labor market on Friday with

the release of February's U.S. payrolls report.

Markets are already on edge following Thursday's news that

planned U.S. layoffs soared last month to the highest point

since the pandemic recession in 2020, even though weekly jobless

claims fell unexpectedly. Meanwhile, private sector jobs in

February rose only about half the amount forecast, based on the

ADP report released earlier this week.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve's real time 'GDPNow' model is

still tracking a contraction for the economy of 2.4% for the

first quarter, though the forecast did improve slightly in

recent days.

While chipmaker Broadcom's post-bell surge on its latest results

helped steady U.S. stock futures early on Friday, Wall

Street stocks have recorded another rough week.

Heavy losses on Thursday saw the S&P 500 clock its

biggest daily loss of the year so far, as it hit its lowest

point since before U.S. President Donald Trump's was re-elected

on November 5. And for chart-watchers, the index fell below its

closely-watched 200 day moving average.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq is now in what's known as

correction territory, having recoiled more than 10% from its

December record high. Bitcoin fell back again, with traders

disappointed by Trump's latest plans for a crypto reserve.

Global shares fell broadly on Friday too, following Wall

Street's lead amid U.S. trade and recession fears.

But even after the latest European Central Bank interest rate

cut on Thursday, the euro continued its march higher

against the ailing dollar, with European leaders agreeing

on a 150 billion euro defense fund overnight to add to Germany's

seismic fiscal stimulus plans announced earlier in the week.

The euro is now on course for its best week against the

dollar in 16 years.

Today's key chart

Layoffs announced by U.S. employers jumped to levels not

seen since the last two recessions amid mass federal government

job cuts, canceled contracts and fears of trade wars. Global

outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said planned job

cuts vaulted 245% month-over-month to 172,017 in February, the

highest level since July 2020 when the economy was in the grips

of the COVID-19 pandemic and the highest February total since

the Great Recession 16 years ago.

Today's events to watch

* U.S. February employment report, January consumer credit;

Canada

February employment report; Mexico February inflation

* Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Fed Board Governor

Adriana

Kugler, New York Fed President John Williams and Atlanta Fed

boss Raphael Bostic all speak; European Central Bank President

Christine Lagarde speaks; Bank of England policymaker Catherine

Mann speaks

Top events to watch for next week

* For an overview of what to watch out for next week, check

out:

Take Five: Change is in the air.

* February's U.S. consumer price inflation report next week

comes

too early to capture the impact of the latest tariff hikes. But

the extent to which inflation remains 'hot' and may get

aggravated further by the tariffs will be a key debate.

Inflation proved politically toxic for the previous

administration of Joe Biden, and Trump's early approval rating

on cost of living issues is already poor.

* Europe's finance ministers meet next week to

discuss the

momentous turn in the continent's security and fiscal picture.

Stories away from major macro developments that you might

have missed this week:

1. How ECB dodged a payment disaster in 10 hours of tech

meltdown

2. US mulls plan to disrupt Iran's oil by halting vessels at

sea

3. Trump-Zelenskiy clash exposes divisions in Europe's

rising far

right

4. Shipping firms pull back from Hong Kong to skirt

U.S.-China risks

5. Republican officials rethink BlackRock bans after Panama

port

deal

(By Mike Dolan, editing by Anna Szymanski

[email protected])