Riskier investments were back in vogue last week and stockmarkets reacted accordingly with widespread gains, which are likely to continue into the coming week.
But Friday brought a reminder that potentially worrying news was not far away with reports of a coup in Turkey, which seems to have petered out.
Eurozone shares fell 0.2% on Friday (before the coup news emerged, but reacting to the atrocity in Nice).
On Wall Street, the US S&P 500 lost 0.1% despite good US economic data (such as industrial production and retail sales).
News of the Turkish coup attempt did see US futures slip 0.4%, but that will be quickly erased today after the coup failed.
Overnight futures trading saw an 11 point dip in the ASX 200 market. But the quick end to the coup will see that quickly reversed when trading starts this morning.
Over the week, US shares rose 1.5% to a new record high, European shares were up 3.9% and Japanese shares (up 9.2%) have recovered much or all of their Brexit losses.
Australian shares rose 3.8% to their highest for the year. Chinese shares also gained 2.6%.
Bond yields are now on the up with the US 10 year yield rising 19 basis points to close at 1.55% on Friday.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index’s fall on Friday ended its longest rally in four months. It wouldn’t surprise if there’s some more profit-taking at times this week if some second quarter earnings reports are weaker than expected.
The S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 2161.74, after setting fresh all-time highs in the prior four days, the longest winning streak since 2014. The Dow rose 10.14 points to 18,516.55, notching a record close for a fourth day.
And the Nasdaq Composite eased 0.1%.
Reassuring Chinese GDP data lifted world stocks to an eight-month high on Friday though Europe ended an otherwise strong week subdued after an attack by a gunman at the wheel of a truck in the south of France killed at least 84 people.
European stocks slipped Friday, with travel shares lower after a deadly terrorist attack left more than 80 people dead in Nice, France.
The Stoxx Europe 600 shed 0.2% to close at 337.92, partly erasing an 0.8% advance from Thursday. It still rose 3.2% last week.
The coup attempt in Turkey will see more selling in Europe this week, especially among tourism-related stocks which were hammered on Friday in the wake of the Nice attack.
France’s CAC 40 fell 0.3% to 4,372.51 on Friday. Germany’s DAX ended marginally lower at 10,066.90. Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.3% to 16,748.59 and Spain’s IBEX eased 0.3% to 8,531, and the U.K’s FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 6,669.24.
In Australia, the sharemarket ended on an 11-month high on Friday, capping off a seven-day winning run led by strong gains for the banks.
The ASX ended the week at 5430 – up 0.3% on the day and a solid 3.8% for the week.
The big banks rallied hard and Westpac shares climbed 6.5%, Commonwealth Bank shares were up 4.9%, ANZ shares up 7.5% and NAB shares bounced 6.1%.
BHP shares rose nearly 7% as iron ore prices rose strongly but with gold weaker, shares in miners such as Newcrest lost ground (its shares fell 6.3%).
