The Amsterdam stock market will focus on Friday’s US jobs report, which will be released later in the day. Now that the US default risk has passed, investors are returning to business as usual. After the House of Representatives, the US Senate also agreed to raise the government’s debt ceiling. President Joe Biden will sign the bill “as soon as possible” in a speech on Friday.

The big question now is what the Federal Reserve will do to interest rates later this month. Investors are hoping the US central bank will not raise interest rates any further in the world’s largest economy. Several central bank policymakers have recently hinted at a pause in rate hike policy. Job growth and employment in the U.S. will be closely watched as conditions in the labor market play a key role in the Fed’s interest rate policy.

The AEX index headed for a half-percent opening gain, with other European bourses also expected to open higher. Asian markets posted solid gains on Friday. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 1.2 percent, led by tech investor SoftBank (up 4 percent).

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose as much as 3.9 percent after hitting its lowest level of the year earlier this week. Confidence that the central bank will not raise interest rates further fueled buying interest and led to significant price gains among Chinese technology companies. Internet and games company Tencent, in which Amsterdam-listed technology investor Process is a major shareholder, gained more than 5 percent.

Insurer NN Group will hold its annual shareholders’ meeting on Friday and has quoted rival ASR’s stock ex-dividend. Majorel was removed from the buy list by Berenberg. According to analysts at a German investment bank, another buyer is unlikely to sign up for a call center company. Major shareholders of Luxembourg-based Majorel are also backing a €3 billion takeover bid by French Teleperformance.

The euro was at $1.0775 against $1.0749 the previous day. Oil prices continued to rise after Thursday’s strong gains. U.S. crude rose 0.9 percent to $70.74 a barrel. Brent oil rose 1 percent to $74.99 a barrel.