BEIJING (AP) - European stocks opened higher Friday while Asian markets mostly declined ahead of U.S. jobs data that might reinforce U.S. Federal Reserve plans for more interest rate hikes to cool inflation.

London, Frankfurt and Shanghai rose. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney declined. Wall Street futures were nearly flat. Oil prices surged $2.50 per barrel.

Investors awaited figures on August hiring for an update on how the economy is responding to four earlier hikes to cool inflation that is at a four-decade high. A strong reading would give ammunition to Fed officials who say higher interest rates are needed to slow economic activity and reduce upward pressure on consumer prices.

If more than 300,000 jobs were added, it “could likely reinforce further lean towards” a rate hike as big as 0.75 percentage points at this month’s Fed meeting, Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report. That would be three times the Fed’s usual margin of change.