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Global stock markets mostly rose Friday following modestly positive economic data in Europe and the United States, while the yen tumbled after the Bank of Japan maintained its easing policies.
European equities ended the session in positive territory after a morning in the red, shrugging off official data confirming that the eurozone economy only just eked out growth in the first three months of the year.
Wall Street followed a similar pattern, getting past early weakness to push higher for a second straight day.
“It’s a little bit of a relief trade,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare, adding that investors remain “a little guarded.”
The week’s economic data was “okay,” said O’Hare, who noted that earnings from influential technology US companies largely met expectations and in some cases exceeded them.
The Federal Reserve’s favored measure, the annual personal consumption expenditures price index, eased to 4.2 percent in March from a revised 5.1 percent a month earlier, with a sharp decline recorded in energy prices, according to data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
“Today’s PCE data was pretty much as expected but is trending in a good direction for those hoping for inflation to moderate,” analysts for Charles Schwab said in a note.
