Global equities rounded off a strong month in positive fashion this week as a wave of forecast-beating corporate earnings and broadly encouraging economic data helped maintain investor appetite for risk assets.
Even Friday’s mixed report on second-quarter US gross domestic product only marginally damped enthusiasm for stocks. The figures showed that the economy shrank by a smaller than expected 1 per cent, against a 6.4 per cent contraction in the first quarter, although comparisons were made difficult by backward revisions caused by the adoption of a new base year.
