London — World stocks steadied on Friday after a volatile week, taking their lead from a stronger Wall Street as US data tempered inflation fears, while the dollar approached three-month lows on reduced bets of early Federal Reserve rate hikes.
Other data on Thursday showed US jobless rolls swelled in early May, which could dampen expectations for an acceleration in employment growth this month, even though the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped further below 500,000 last week. British retail sales surged 9.2% year on year in April — twice the average forecast in a Reuters poll of economists — as shoppers splashed out on new clothes after shops reopened following months of lockdown closures.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.14%, putting it on track for a 1.8% weekly gain.