UK Retail Sales Boost US Economy – Global News (Trending Perfect)

LONDON – European markets closed higher on Friday, capping what was expected to be a profitable week for global stocks.

Pan-European Stoxx 600 Index The Dubai Financial Market General Index closed temporarily up 0.28%, with auto stocks recording the biggest sectoral gains, adding 1.08%, while oil and gas stocks lost 0.16%.

The regional index is up 2.4% this week, putting it on track for its best performance since May 10.

U.S. stocks also posted strong gains, with a big boost coming on Thursday when weekly unemployment claims fell and U.S. retail sales data came in much stronger than expected.

That signaled to investors that concerns about a U.S. recession, which contributed to the sharp global sell-off earlier in the month, were overdone. Along with the ripple effects of Japanese monetary policy, analysts say some of the volatility may be due to a historical trend in August, when trading tended to be more shallow.

U.S. stocks were flat in early trading on Friday.

Stoxx 600 Wall Street Index Standard & Poor's 500 Global stock markets remain below the levels at which they began the month, but steady gains over the week have offset losses from the recent slide.

In data released on Friday, UK retail sales rebounded from a 0.9% fall in June to a 0.5% increase in July, in line with expectations in a Reuters poll. Sales volumes rose 1.1% in the three months to July.

The rise in retail sales was not broad-based, with sectors such as food, clothing and household goods suffering, Alex Kerr, UK economist at Capital Economics, said in a note on Friday.

“We continue to believe that rising real incomes, coupled with lower inflation, will mean consumer spending growth will accelerate over the rest of this year,” Kerr said.