LONDON—European shares opened lower, Treasuries held on to gains and the dollar was nursing heavy losses on Friday ahead of U.S. non-farm payrolls data, the next big test for investors looking for more signs of a rates policy shift from the Federal Reserve. Data overnight including falling U.S. job openings and contracting U.S. manufacturing activity,…

LONDON—The bulls were enjoying the good life in Europe on Thursday after the world’s most influential central banker, Jerome Powell, signaled this year’s frantic pace of U.S. interest rate hikes could be about to slow. It was a textbook ‘risk on’ pattern, with both the STOXX 600 and MSCI’s main world stocks index hitting their…

TOKYO—Global shares were mostly higher on Wednesday, ahead of a closely watched speech by the Federal Reserve chief that may give clues about future interest rate hikes. Investors were also eyeing developments in China, where protests have erupted over the “zero-COVID” strategy that has confined millions of people to their homes, sometimes for months. France’s…