The U.S. stock markets are likely to take the lead from the European markets, which trimmed their early day losses to respond to the rise in oil prices. After recording a hefty fall a day earlier, the U.S. futures market seemed to have bounced back today.

Economic events for the day

During the early hours, both NASDAQ (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) Futures and S&P 500 INDEX (INDEXCBOE:SPX) Futures added 0.56% each to trade at 4,376.12 and 2,069.50 respectively. The traders are likely to focus on the two economic events lined up for today, i.e., the release of the U.S. employment report and the Bank of England’s policy decision.

The U.S. Dollar (CURRENCY:USD) paced up against the global currencies, though it’s upside is believed to be limited. The Japanese Yen encountered selling pressure as forex traders responded to the hints by the Japanese officials about the possible currency intervention.

Greek unemployment rate decreased

While the trading in Asian equities were muted, European stocks were quick to pare their losses. The overall sentiment in the eurozone improved after the jobless rate in Greece eased down to 24.2% in February from 24.4% in January. According to a report from ELSTAT, the number of unemployed accounted 1.158 million. Greece’s economy has expanded only marginally during the first quarter of 2015 as national output ticked up 0.1% on quarterly basis.

Meanwhile, the improved outlook for oil has also contributed to a recovery in the global markets. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has noted in its report that the unplanned cut in oil output will help to overcome the supply glut situation. At the same time, the agency has also projected a healthy rise in oil demand, particularly from India and China. It further outlined that the non-OPEC output is likely to dip by 800,000 barrels per day in 2016. It is to be noted that the U.S. crude reserves fell unexpectedly during the last week, as per an official report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.