While the markets wait for the official unemployment rates to be issued for the federal government that will cover the month of May, overseas markets whipped back and forth.

The Nikkei ended down 0.2%, and most analysts now believe that it has entered “Bear market territory” driven by concerns that the Fed will stop or slow its bond buyback program and that the Chinese economy has slowed considerably.

At the open in Europe, the FTSE, DAX and CAC 40 were slightly down. Most of these markets will still be open when the U.S. jobs data hits and almost certainly will take a sharp turn in direction based on the announcement.

Bloomberg reports:

European stocks were little changed, after the Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell to its lowest level in more than six weeks yesterday, as investors await U.S. labor data. U.S. index futures were also little changed, while Asian shares retreated.

Ipsen (IPN) SA rose 1.8 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recommended buying the shares. Deutsche Telekom AG added 1.3 percent after Jefferies Group LLC upgraded the stock.

A trader walks across the trading floor at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Frankfurt. Photographer: Ralph Orlowski/Bloomberg

The Stoxx 600 slipped less than 0.1 percent to 291.6 at 8:04 a.m. in London. The benchmark gauge has still rallied 4.3 percent so far this year as central banks around the world continued their stimulus measures. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.1 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.3 percent.

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