US stocks closed the week at record highs on trade optimism and solid economic news. The S&P 500 rose 0.9% and Dow surged 1.2% for the week. Abroad, the FTSE All-World Ex-US index edged down 0.3% for the week. The 10-year Treasury yield eased to finish at 1.83%.
In testimony on Capitol Hill, Fed Chief Powell said he didn’t see any immediate need to adjust interest rate policy but was open to reassessing with new data.
The CPI rose 0.4% in October from September, slightly higher than expected.
Third-quarter GDP slowed to 0.2% in Japan from 1.8% in the second quarter. Germany grew 0.3% in the third quarter a slight pickup from the second quarter.
Economic growth in the EU edged up slightly in the third quarter to 0.9% from 0.8% in the second.
Retail sales rose 0.3% in October.
With over 90% of S&P 500 firms reporting earnings roughly 75% have beaten expectations. Earnings have fallen 2.3% from a year earlier, better than the 4.6% drop expected.