European stocks closed higher last Friday as investors digested economic data from the region including a preliminary UK second-quarter GDP reading, July inflation prints out of France, Spain and Italy, and euro zone industrial production for June.
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European markets are set to open in positive territory on Monday, continuing a positive trend seen at the close of trading last week.
European stocks closed higher last Friday as investors digested economic data from the region including a preliminary UK second-quarter GDP reading, July inflation prints out of France, Spain and Italy, and euro zone industrial production for June.
Data released from the UK showed the economy contracted in the second quarter of 2022 as the country’s cost-of-living crisis hit home. Official figures showed that gross domestic product shrank by 0.1% quarter on quarter in the second three months of the year, less than the 0.3% contraction expected by analysts.
Also on investors’ minds was cooler-than-expected US inflation data out last week. The consumer price index rose 8.5% in July from a year ago, below expectations, due largely to slumping energy prices.
