US consumer sentiment highest in 5 years

Economic reporting for the week ended on a positive note.

In the US, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary October reading of the consumer sentiment index came in at 83.1, the highest since September 2007 and up from 78.3 the month before. The Economic Cycle Research Institute's weekly leading index rose to 127.7 last week from 126.2 the previous week while its growth rate accelerated to 5.7 percent, its highest since May 2011, from 4.6 percent.

With the economy showing signs of buoyancy, inflation may be slow to fall. The producer price index rose 1.1 percent in September.

The euro area also had positive news on Friday, with industrial production showing 0.6 percent growth in August, the same rate as in July.

Meanwhile, Chinese bank lending fell to 623.2 billion yuan in September, down from 703.9 billion yuan in August. However, the September figure is still much higher than the 540.1 billion yuan reported for July.