LONDON — Better-than-expected U.S. economic growth figures helped turnaround the mood in financial markets Friday following disappointing earnings from Apple and Amazon.
Both firms reported losses after the market close on Thursday, contributing to a sour trading session in Asia. The downbeat mood carried over into Europe but improved when government figures showed the U.S. economy grew by annualized rate of 2.0 percent in the third quarter. That was slightly better than predictions for a 1.8 percent rise and eased some of the concerns that continue to hang over the world's largest economy.
"Strength in consumer spending remains an encouraging feature to today's report into the final quarter," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. "As they say, never write off the consumer."
The figures were enough to prompt a sea-change in Europe. Germany's DAX was 0.4 percent higher at 7,235 while the CAC-40 in France rose 0.6 percent to 3,431. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was steady at 5,807. All three indexes had been sharply lower earlier.
Wall Street was poised for a steady opening — in contrast to earlier expectations for sizeable falls on both the Dow and the broader S&P 500 index.
The U.S. is likely to remain the main focus in the markets at least until the presidential election. Though polls suggest President Barack Obama has an advantage in the electoral college over his challenger Mitt Romney, the margins are tight.
"The outcome will have an important bearing on market developments, including the exchange rate," said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.
Since Romney's advance in the polls over the past the past couple of weeks, the dollar has largely remained steady. In midafternoon London trade, the euro was 0.2 percent lower at $1.2910.
Earlier in Asia, stocks suffered from the fallout from the Apple and Amazon reports. Downbeat U.S. housing figures also weighed on sentiment.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index slid 1.4 percent to close at 8,933.06 while South Korea's Kospi tumbled 1.7 percent to 1,891.43. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.2 percent to 21,545.57.
Mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index sank 1.7 percent to 2,066.21 and the Shenzhen Composite Index shed 2 percent to 840.51.
Oil prices recovered most of their earlier losses as stock markets improved — the benchmark New York rate was up 23 cents at $86.31 a barrel.
© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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