Stock markets mostly advanced Friday as traders awaited key US jobs data and after news of falling inflation in the eurozone. Global equities have enjoyed a largely solid start to the new year, though Wall Street slid Thursday on expectations that the Federal Reserve is in no rush to stop hiking US interest rates. A “strong jobs report today would further justify such a hawkish approach and perhaps send risk assets into a bit of a tailspin”, noted Craig Erlam, senior analyst at Oanda trading group. The Fed along with central banks worldwide last year kickstarted a string of aggressive rate hikes to battle decades-high inflation.