A balcony above the trading floor inside the Euronext NV stock exchange, Monday, March 13, 2023, in Paris, France.
Nathan Lane | Bloomberg | Getty Images
LONDON — European markets opened slightly higher on Friday, setting up what is shaping up to be a winning week for global stock markets.
France's CAC 40 index was last up more than 20 points to 7,447, Germany's DAX rose 52 points to 18,237 and Britain's FTSE 100 was little changed, according to IG Data.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index is up more than 2% so far this week, on track for its best performance since May 10.
U.S. stocks also posted solid gains, with shares boosted especially on Thursday by a fall in weekly jobless claims and much stronger than expected U.S. retail sales data.
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Data on Friday showed British retail sales recovered to rise 0.5 percent in July from a 0.9 percent fall in June, in line with expectations in a Reuters poll. Sales rose 1.1 percent in the three months to July.
UK inflation rose to 2.2% in July, a slower-than-expected increase, while the economy recorded a 0.6% expansion in the second quarter.
Asia-Pacific stock markets also rose on Friday, helped by positive US data.
