The FTSE 100 added to a consistent week of gains as the index briefly touched 7,900 on Friday following the release of US retail sales data and upbeat US banking earnings.
The FTSE 100 was trading at 7,896 at the time of writing.
Strong results from US banks helped lift sentiment early on Friday, with Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan all beating analyst estimates. JP Morgan shares rose over 7%.
However, shortly before the US open, mixed US retail sales data sapped some enthusiasm from investors and again raised questions about the underlying health of the US economy.
“Headline numbers were weaker than expected, coming in 1% down MoM and continuing the recent market theme of softening US data. Excluding autos, gas and the control group, the numbers were stronger than expected, which may cloud the market reaction and potential positioning squaring into the weekend by market participants,” said Ryan Brandham, Head of Global Capital Markets, North America at Validus Risk Management.
In a sign of underlying interest for stocks, the S&P 500 rebounded quickly from a lower open and was closing in on the highest levels since August.
UK banks
The plethora of upbeat earnings results from US banks sparked a rally in FTSE 100 banks on hopes US strength would be evident in the next round of updates from UK counterparts.
Standard Chartered was the FTSE 100’s top riser with a 4% gain. HSBC and Barclays were not far behind, adding 3.8% and 3.2%, respectively.
Barclays shares are now only about 10% away from recovering all losses incurred since the beginning of the SVB saga. Standard Chartered – the heaviest hit FTSE 100 bank during the mini-crisis – needs around a 25% rally.