A Look At Economic Developments Around The Globe

The Associated Press

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Monday:

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LONDON — World stock markets rallied 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, to 5,382.67. Germany's DAX rose 117.99 points, or 2.1 percent, to 5,804.82, while the CAC-40 in France was 57.15 points, or 1.5 percent, higher at 3,863.16. Stock markets have rallied strongly since March's lows, with many of the world's major indexes trading at, or near, their highest levels this year as investors reined in their economic doomsday expectations to factor in a swifter-than-anticipated global economic rebound.

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LONDON — Growth has resumed in Britain but the move toward recovery is still quite tentative, an economist on the Bank of England's nine-member interest rate-setting committee said. Andrew Sentance, a former chief economist with British Airways, said there was a large body of evidence that suggested growth had returned to the U.K., according to a summary of a speech released by the Bank of England. Sentance was due to tell an audience at Royal Holloway University in southern England that "though we have seen a wide range of signs of recovery ... we are in the very early stages of a resumption of growth," according to the summary. He warned of several challenges to the British economy, including a rise in energy and commodity prices once the global recovery is under way and Britain's ballooning public debt.