World Stocks Buoyed By US Retail Sales Data

PAN PYLAS

LONDON (AP) — World stock markets rallied Monday after figures showed U.S. retail sales — crucial for the global economic recovery — rose more strongly than anticipated in October.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 86.29 points, or 1.6 percent, at 5,382.67. Germany's DAX rose 117.99 points, or 2.1 percent, at 5,804.82 while the CAC-40 in France was 57.15 points, or 1.5 percent, higher at 3,863.16.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 138.53 points, or 1.4 percent, at 10,409 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 17.59 points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,111.07.

The gains came after the Commerce Department reported that U.S. retail sales rose 1.4 percent in October from the previous month. Though higher than analysts' expectations for a 0.8 percent advance, it was not enough to offset September's revised 2.3 percent decline — originally the fall was estimated at 1.5 percent.

And excluding auto sales, retail sales rose 0.2 percent, half of the expected 0.4 percent increase.