Oil erases 2016 gain on Saudi comments on output freeze S&P 500 futures retreat as Europe, Japan shares tumble Share on Facebook Share on Twitter American stock futures fell as global equities started the second quarter with the steepest loss since February amid renewed selling in crude. The dollar advanced after U.S. jobs data bolstered the case to raise interest rates. Crude oil erased gains for the year after Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince said the kingdom will only freeze its oil output if Iran and other major producers do so. Futures on the S&P 500 indicated the underlying index will join a retreat among global equities after a whipsaw quarter left stocks little changed. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index halted a five-day slide. “It’s hard for the market to move higher even with jobs,� Mark Kepner, an equity trader at Chatham, New Jersey-based Themis Trading LLC, said by phone. “All things considered this was a good number but not too strong where you feel the Fed is behind the curve. It continues to reinforce the labor market is good. We’ve sold off a little bit today and it’s hard to decouple with negative sentiment from Asia and energy down big. � The gain in payrolls followed a revised 245,000 February advance, a Labor Department report showed Friday. Average hourly earnings increased 0.3 percent from a month earlier, while the jobless rate crept up to 5 percent as more people entered the labor force. Additional tightening in the labor market that sparks bigger pay gains for American workers may convince Federal Reserve policy makers that the economy is more insulated to weakness overseas, potentially clearing the way for further interest-rate increases. Global equities ended the first quarter little changed after central bank efforts to shore up economies spurred gains in the past six weeks. That helped offset a selloff in January, fueled by concern over a deepening slowdown in China and a slump in oil prices. Stocks The MSCI All-Country World Index dropped 1 percent at 9:10 a.m. in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated 2 percent after wrapping up its third quarterly decline in four on Thursday with a 1.1 percent drop. Energy producers led stocks lower. Japan’s Topix index tumbled 3.4 percent as the country’s Tankan surveys of business conditions indicated sentiment among large manufacturers was the weakest since mid-2013. InterContinental Hotels Group Plc lost 1.1 percent. The shares had rallied recently amid a bidding war for U.S. peer Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which ended Thursday after a group led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. withdrew its offer. Marriott International Inc., now the frontrunner for Starwood, fell 4.8 percent in European trading. ThyssenKrupp AG rose 6.2 percent following a report that it’s in talks with Tata Steel Ltd. about possible participation in the German company’s steel business. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures fell 0.4 percent, after U.S. equities ended the first quarter near where they began following a whipsaw ride that saw them rally from the worst-ever start to a year. U.S. nonfarm payrolls expanded by 205,000 in March and the unemployment rate held at 4.9 percent while average hourly earnings increased 2.2 percent on the year, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Data on manufacturing and consumer sentiment probably improved, other surveys showed. Traders have cut the odds of an April rate increase to zero, with the probability of a move in June down to 20 percent after Fed Chair Janet Yellen this week reiterated that policy will be tightened gradually in light of uncertain global growth. Emerging Markets The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped 1.3 percent, after climbing 13 percent in March, the best monthly gain in almost seven years. When the equity gauge last increased more than 13 percent in May 2009, it declined the following month before resuming a rally in July. Benchmark gauges in Russia, Poland, South Africa, South Korea and Taiwan dropped at least 1 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies trading in Hong Kong slid 1.8 percent after rising on Thursday to the highest level since early January. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent on Friday, following the biggest monthly advance in almost a year, as traders weighed gains in manufacturing and a cut in the nation’s credit-rating outlook by S&P. The purchasing managers’ index increased to 50.2 in March, beating the median estimate of 49.4 in a Bloomberg survey. The non-manufacturing PMI rose to 53.8 from 52.7 in February. Readings above 50 signal improving conditions. S&P on Thursday cut China’s rating outlook to negative from stable, saying the nation’s economic rebalancing is likely to proceed more slowly than the ratings firm had expected. Commodities Oil headed for the first weekly decline since February as OPEC output rose and expanding U.S. stockpiles kept inventories at the highest level in more than eight decades. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries increased supply by 64,000 barrels to 33.09 million a day in March as Iraqi output gained and Iran pumped at the highest level in almost four years, according to a Bloomberg survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. Crude futures dropped 2.4 percent to $37.42 a barrel in New York on Friday. The warning by Mohammed bin Salman, 30, who’s emerged as Saudi Arabia’s leading political force, leaves the outcome of a meeting between OPEC and other big oil producers this month in question. Iran has already said it plans to boost its production after the lifting of sanctions following a deal to curb the country’s nuclear program. Copper for three-month delivery in London rebounded from the lowest in almost a month, gaining 0.3 percent, while aluminum and lead rose more than 1 percent. Nickel and tin declined. Bonds Treasuries fell, with the 10-year yield rising three basis points to 1.80 percent, after reaching 1.77 percent on Thursday, the lowest since March 1. The securities have still returned 3.2 percent this year so far, based on Bloomberg World Bond Indexes, reflecting officials’ expectations that they will raise interest rates more gradually than previously indicated. Currencies The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2 percent, as the dollar gained against most of its peers. A Bloomberg gauge tracking 20 developing-nation currencies fell less than 0.1 percent after surging more than 6 percent last month in a record gain. South Korea’s won led declines on Friday after reaching the strongest in four months on Thursday, when it completed its biggest monthly advance since 2009. The Mexican peso, Turkish lira and Russian ruble slipped at least 0.2 percent. Indonesia’s rupiah and South Africa’s rand bucked the trend, rising 0.6 percent and 0.3 percent.

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