UK retail sales, US economy boosted | Wilnesh News

LONDON — European stocks were higher on Friday, capping a positive week for global stocks.

Pan-European Stoke 600 At 8:38 a.m. London time, the index rose 0.2%, with auto stocks rising 1.1%.

The regional benchmark has gained more than 2% so far this week and is expected to post its best performance since May 10.

U.S. stocks also rose sharply after weekly jobless claims fell on Thursday and U.S. retail sales data came in much stronger than expected.

That further signals to investors that fears of a U.S. recession, which led to a sharp sell-off in global stock markets earlier this month, are overblown. Analysts said that in addition to the knock-on effects of Japan’s monetary policy, part of the reason for the volatility may be a historical trend in August, when trade volumes tend to be shallower.

Stoxx 600 and Wall Street S&P 500 Index Still below levels seen at the start of the month, but steady gains this week have more than made up for the recent plunge.

In terms of data on Friday, UK retail sales rebounded to a 0.5% increase in July from a 0.9% decline in June, in line with expectations in a Reuters poll. Sales grew 1.1% in the three months to July.

Alex Kerr, U.K. economist at Capital Economics, said in a note on Friday that retail growth was not broad-based, with sectors such as food, clothing and homewares struggling.

“We continue to believe that rising real incomes as inflation declines should mean that growth in consumer spending will accelerate over the remainder of the year,” Kerr said.