Saturday 16 October 2021

Markets rise, US retail sales show surprise gain

Markets rose on Friday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.7 percent and the Nikkei 225 surged 1.8 percent.

US stocks were buoyed by strong earnings reports. According to FactSet, 80 percent of the 41 S&P 500 companies that have reported third-quarter results have topped earnings-per-share expectations.

In addition, a report on Friday showed that US retail sales posted a surprise increase in September, rising 0.7 percent.

“Services spending may see some renewed strength over the next couple of months, as virus cases continue to drop back,” Capital Economics senior US economist Andrew Hunter wrote. “But with goods shortages likely to persist, and the resulting surge in prices eating into real incomes, we expect consumption growth to remain subdued.”

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