| schema:articleBody
| - Europe's stock markets mostly rebounded Friday on easing virus concerns, while Frankfurt shrugged off official data showing that Germany's powerhouse economy has entered recession. Investors went fishing for bargain shares after stocks tanked on news of spiking jobless claims in the United States. "After two down days for the markets, the week is ending on a more positive note for equities worldwide as fears of a second wave in the current pandemic ease for now," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. In early afternoon trade, London's FTSE 100 index gained 0.8 percent. In the eurozone, Frankfurt jumped 1.9 percent despite grim economic news, while Paris stocks added 1.0 percent and Milan gained 0.3 percent. Madrid turned flat. The coronavirus pandemic has tipped Germany into a recession, official data showed Friday, with Europe's top economy suffering its steepest quarterly contraction in more than a decade as lockdown measures began to bite. The German economy shrank by 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2020, federal statistics agency Destatis said, calling the quarter-on-quarter decline "the worst since the global financial crisis" in 2009. The agency also revised its gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the final quarter of 2019 from zero growth to a contraction of 0.1 percent. That means Germany has experienced two consecutive quarters of decline, meeting the technical definition of a recession. "Sensitivity to technical adjustments like that is not even on people's radar right now," OANDA analyst Craig Erlam told AFP. "We are in a global recession and a severe one at that." Asian bourses meanwhile diverged on mixed Chinese data, at the end of a tough week for global equities that have been wracked by worries over a second wave of infections, rising China-US tensions and uncertainty about how long an economic recovery could take. Data out of China showed retail sales contracted in April -- indicating crucial consumer activity remains weak -- offsetting figures showing the first growth in industrial production this year. "Asian shares took their cue from mixed but ultimately improving economic data from China, the first country into and out of lockdown," added Mould. A generally downbeat mood was however compounded by another jump in US jobless claims, overshadowing news that several countries were easing strict lockdown measures that have slammed the world economy. Oil prices rose about two percent to put the market on course for a third week of gains on demand optimism as people slowly emerge from lockdowns, while producers push ahead with massive output cuts. London - FTSE 100: UP 0.8 percent at 5,787.31 points Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 1.9 percent at 10,529.80 Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.0 percent at 4,315.82 Milan - FTSE MIB: UP 0.3 percent at 16,913.82 Madrid - IBEX 35: FLAT at 6,545.50 EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.2 percent at 2,792.18 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 20,037.47 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.1 percent at 23,797.47 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 2,868.46 (close) New York - Dow: UP 1.6 percent at 23,625.34 (close) Brent North Sea crude: UP 2.4 percent at $31.86 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.8 percent at $28.06 per barrel Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0811 from $1.0805 at 2100 GMT Dollar/yen: DOWN at 107.07 yen from 107.25 Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2203 from $1.2230 Euro/pound: UP at 88.56 pence from 88.35 pence dan-rfj/bcp/wai
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)