World stocks and oil prices rose on Friday

World stocks and oil prices rose on Friday after economic data came out of China. The euro hovered near its two-year low against the dollar. It was also influenced by Moody’s downgrade of Italy.

Brent Crude Oil Future rose $ 1 above $ 102 per barrel after the release of Chinese economic growth data for the second quarter. The figures were in line with expectations and eased concerns among many investors that a major slowdown could hurt global growth. Renewed attempts by the United States to crack down on Iranian crude exports also benefited Brent.

The 7.6 percent increase in economic growth confirms that China is currently the slowest growing economy compared to the last three years. This fact raises hopes for further stimulus. China’s CPI and PPI are going down, creating room for interest rate cuts, which is important for the stock markets. Analysts and traders report that market sentiment improved after the numbers were announced. In metal markets, copper is considered an important growth barometer, which currently also shows good figures. The growth in China also strengthens the Australian dollar, which benefits from the growth in its largest export market. Wall Street is looking at good figures on Friday at the opening of the stock market.

The focus of investors now shifts to the major U.S. companies, which announce the results for the second quarter. Among them is JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Google, which will report on Friday.

The outlook of many U.S. companies is the worst in four years and companies that have already reported this season showed only weak growth. Many of them cite Europe’s current performance as the main reason.