The S&P 500 closed at a fresh high for the year and crowned a global equity rally on Thursday, as investors played down disappointing figures on US retail sales and focused on cautiously optimistic comments from the Federal Reserve and unexpected signs of economic growth in Europe.
“The latest US data are a bit of a dampener for the positive risk trade that, until these numbers, was feeling the positive afterglow of the FOMC meeting,” said Alan Ruskin, global head of strategy at RBS Securities. The Fed said US economic activity was “levelling out”, as opposed to its previous assessment that the pace of contraction was slowing, as it said it would slow purchases of Treasury securities before ending the programme in October, a month later than initially indicated.
