Coming to the end of an interesting week, Europe opened higher on Friday, with the UK digesting some major data.
The ONS revealed that, in May, public sector net borrowing rose by £55.2 billion – well above the £50 billion forecast, and the highest figure since records began in 1993.
However, the edge was taken off that number by the fact UK retail sales surged by 12% month-on-month in May. That’s almost double the estimated 6.3% increase, and a huge swing from April’s 18% contraction. Now, that number does have one major caveat: year-on-year retail sales still shrank 13.1% last month. However, even that was better than expected, and has the UK economy pointing in the right direction.
The FTSE thought as much, adding 0.7% to sit just under 6260 – roughly where it was at the start of last Thursday’s mega-plunge.
The rest of Europe also rose this Friday. The DAX added 75 points as it crossed 12360, while the CAC led the pack with a 0.9% increase.
As for the Dow Jones, it is eyeing a 150 point push when things get underway stateside, an increase that would leave it at 26225.
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