US markets snapped their run of declines on Friday night following a bumper jobs report for November.

The Dow and S&P500 ended a five session losing streak after data showed US employers added 203,000 jobs last month, well ahead of estimates for a 180,000 gain.

In another welcome surprise, the jobless rate fell from 7.3% to 7% – the lowest since November 2008. The reaction to the jobs figures also bucked the recent trend of stocks falling in response to positive economic data.

This time it appeared as though the data was good enough to boost confidence in the US economy, but not strong enough to force the Fed into a December start date for stimulus tapering.

The Dow Jones soared 198 points (+1.3%) to 16020, the S&P500 climbed 20 points (+1.1%) to 1805 and the Nasdaq put on 30 points (+0.7%) to 4063.

It was a mixed bag in commodity markets, with gold weakening on the back of the positive employment result.

Conversely, the jobs result helped drive further gains in oil, with additional support coming from data showing consumer sentiment surging in December to the highest since July.

The US dollar rose modestly against its major rivals, as traders weighed the strong jobs growth against expectations the Fed will delay stimulus tapering by another month or two.

This morning has been a particularly strong one for the Aussie dollar, which has gapped higher after weekend data revealed a bigger-than-expected increase in Chinese exports last month.

In company news, QBE has revealed a mammoth US$600 million write-down, which is expected to see the insurer report a $275 million loss for the year ending December.

In economic news, the ANZ Job Ads Survey is due for release at 11:30am, AEDT.

Morning Market Update: Positive Start Ahead is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog