Markets rose on Friday. The S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to make another record high. The MSCI All-Country World Index rose 0.6 percent to a six-year high and within 0.3 percent of its all-time high recorded in October 2007.
Boosting market sentiment on Friday was the US employment report, which showed that payrolls rose 217,000 in April, the fourth consecutive month that employment has increased by more than 200,000. The increase in payrolls also finally pushed total employment above its peak of 138.4 million reached in January 2008 near the beginning of the last recession.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.3 percent.
There were also positive economic data from Germany on Friday. Industrial production rose 0.2 percent in April while the trade surplus widened as exports jumped 3.0 percent and imports rose 0.1 percent.
In contrast, the UK trade deficit widened in April as goods exports fell 1.5 percent while goods imports rose 0.8 percent.
Also reporting negative economic data on Friday was Japan. The leading index for Japan fell to 106.6 in April from 107.1 in March. The coincident index fell to 111.1 from 114.5.
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