Harry Robertson. Iain Withers, Ankur Banerjee
LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Global stocks rose on Friday at the end of a volatile week for markets, as sentiment was buoyed by Apple’s earnings report and an in-line U.S. inflation reading.
Meanwhile, currency traders were bracing for U.S. President Donald Trump to put 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico as a Saturday deadline neared, a move that could disrupt nearly $1.6 trillion in annual trade.
The U.S. S&P 500 stock index (.SPX), opens new tab rose 0.42% in early trading and was on track to end the week broadly flat, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (.NDX), opens new tab climbed 0.77% but was set to end the week 0.5% lower.
The Nasdaq dropped 2.9% on Monday as the surging popularity of cheap Chinese AI model DeepSeek shook investor confidence in U.S. tech stocks and sent chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab plunging 17%.
Earnings reports and forecasts this week from the likes of Meta (META.O), opens new tab and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab have helped sentiment recover somewhat, however.
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Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab added to the cautiously optimistic mood late on Thursday when it forecast relatively strong sales growth, pushing its stock up 4.2% in early Friday trading.
Europe’s continent-wide Stoxx 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab was last up 0.25%, with tech shares (.SX8P), opens new tab up 1.4%.
In currency markets, options contracts showed investors were preparing for the potential for swings in the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso , . The Canadian dollar was last down around 0.2% on the day but the peso was slightly higher.
Trump has set a Saturday deadline to impose punitive duties over his demands that Canada and Mexico take stronger action to halt the flow of illegal immigrants and the deadly opioid fentanyl and precursor chemicals into the U.S.
“There is big market complacency in terms of the manner that the market could digest the tariffs,” said Michael Nizard, multi-asset chief investment officer at Edmond de Rothschild.
The U.S. dollar index was last up 0.26% on the day at 108.38 and was on track for a 0.85% weekly gain . The euro and sterling were both around 0.2% lower , .
More:President Donald Trump to decide on imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico
Data on Friday showed the U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.3% last month after an unrevised 0.1% gain in November, in line with economists’ expectations.
The figures also showed consumer spending surged, briefly pushing up 10-year Treasury yields, which were last flat at 4.512% .
Yields, which move inversely to prices, are on track to fall more than 10 basis points across the week, largely reflecting investor buying as tech stocks fell on Monday.
Data on Thursday showed U.S. economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter, but remained robust enough for investors to expect the Federal Reserve – which held interest rates on Wednesday – to lower borrowing costs only gradually this year.
German bond yields fell for a second day on the back of weaker than expected underlying inflation data. The European Central Bank cut rates on Thursday and signalled more easing was coming.
Brent crude oil futures were steady at $76.80 per barrel.
Reporting by Harry Robertson. Additional reporting by Iain Withers and Ankur Banerjee. Editing by Mark Potter
