Are stock markets around the world closed today?

The financial markets in Europe and the US, as well as the commodity markets, were closed on Good Friday because of the holiday. On the other hand, Asian markets moved up in light trading because of the holiday, and everyone was waiting for the US jobs report to come out later in the day.

Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Singapore did not have markets open. Neither did Nasdaq, US bond markets, or the New York Stock Exchange.

On the other hand, China’s stock market hit its highest level in a month on Friday. This was due to signs of strong capital flows and hopes that relations between China and Europe will get better.

The closely watched US job report comes after a number of reports this week showed that the job market was getting weaker. This suggests that the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes over the past year are starting to have an effect.

Analysts said that a high number could hurt the markets because it would put more pressure on the US central bank to raise interest rates even more.

But if the number was lower than expected, officials could take their foot off the gas. On the other hand, it could make people worry that the world’s biggest economy is going for a recession.

Asia’s few open markets went up after Wall Street gave a good sign during slow trading.

Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai all got better. On Good Friday, New York, London, and Frankfurt were all closed.

Thursday, the US government released new data on unemployment. It showed that 228,000 new applications for unemployment help were made last week. This was more than what analysts had expected.

This came after it was reported on Wednesday that activity in the services sector grew less than expected last month, and another report showed that hiring by private companies slowed down in March.

Edward Moya of OANDA said, “All the employment data leading up to the nonfarm payroll report confirmed a clear trend that a slowdown in the labor market has begun.”

In the past month, people’s expectations for Fed rates have gone down. This is because turmoil in the banking sector, which is mostly blamed on the sharp hikes, made people worry about another financial crisis.

Even though things have slowed down for now, traders are still on edge in case there are any more problems.

Several Fed officials, though, have said that the bank could start raising rates again as it works to bring inflation down.

James Bullard, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is one of them. On Thursday, he said, “Financial stress seems to have eased, at least for now.”

“So, now is a good time to keep fighting inflation and try to get on that path toward less inflation.”