International markets enjoyed strong gains on Friday night, boosted by further encouraging economic data.

In Europe the FTSE surged 105 points (+1.8%) to settle at 5901, whilst the CAC (+1.5%) and DAX (+1.7%) also enjoyed robust gains.

Stateside, the Dow Jones rallied to its highest level since 2008, adding 157 points (+1.2%) to settle at 12862, whilst the S&P 500 added 1.5% to help lock in a fifth straight weekly advance.

A report showing employment in the world's largest economy topping forecasts provided the catalyst for the gains, supporting data earlier in the week which showed manufacturing is strengthening.

The US Labor Department said employers added 243,000 jobs in January after an increase of 203,000 positions in the previous month. The median forecast of 89 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for an increase of 140,000 jobs. The jobless rate fell to 8.3%.

The Aussie dollar remained strong on Friday night, holding above the US$1.07 handle, whilst the euro fell against the yen, dropping from a one-month high due to the unresolved Greek debt-swap agreement

Crude oil added 1.5% to US$97.84 a barrel after stronger-than-expected economic data raised hopes of stronger demand for energy products. Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also threatened retaliation for the West´s oil sanctions.

Base metals were stronger on the back of the weaker US dollar with lead the best 2.8%. Gold pulled back, shedding 1.1% to settle at US$1729 an ounce.

Today's session will bring us data in the form of the Melbourne Institute inflation gauge (10:30am, AEDT), retail sales and ANZ job advertisements (11:30am, AEDT).

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Morning Market Analysis: Challenging Boundaries is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog