Japanese stocks led gains on global markets on Friday after Wall Street posted one of its best days of the year as data showed the U.S. economy holds better than expectedin particular the buyers of the land.

European markets were mostly higher, with Germany’s DAX up 0.5% to 18,268.78 and the CAC 40 in Paris up 0.2% to 7,440.64. In London, the FTSE 100 lost 0.3% to 8,326.47 after UK retail sales recovered from a 0.9% decline in June to a 0.5% rise in July, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both rose 0.1 percent.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 ended a week of gains, rising 3.6 percent to 38,062.67, setting the stage for its best week in four years. It recovered from last week’s big sell-off when the Bank of Japan’s higher interest rate prompted investors who had borrowed in yen and invested in dollar assets to sell their holdings to cover the higher costs of carry trades.

The yen weakened against the greenback this week. The dollar fell slightly to 148.72 yen from 149.27 yen on Friday, but was trading around 146 yen a week ago.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 1.9 percent to 17,430.16, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1 percent to 2,879.43.

China’s central bank governor Pan Gongsheng said in an interview with Chinese state media on Thursday that new measures are being developed to support economic growth in the second half of the year, including accelerating improvements to the central banking system and placing greater emphasis on the financial technology market.

He also said that the overall cost burden of local government debt had fallen significantly.

Meanwhile, reports from e-commerce giants also caught investors’ attention. Technology giant Alibaba Group Holding reported a 4% increase in second-quarter revenue. Although the company’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell short of estimates, they still rose 4.8% on Friday.

Another e-commerce company, JD.com, saw shares rise 8.9% after it reported quarterly profit that beat forecasts.

In South Korea, the Kospi rose 2% to close at 2,697.23. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3% to 7,971.10.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 1.6% to 5,543.22 points, the fourth best day of the year and the sixth consecutive rise as the US stock market recovered after a few frightening weeks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4% to 40,563.06, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.3% to 17,594.50 as Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks continued to recover from their setbacks of the past month.

US Treasury yields also jumped following the encouraging economic report. One of the reports said US shoppers increased their retail spending last month by far more than economists expected, while another report said fewer US workers filed for unemployment benefits.

A year ago, such reports could have rocked the stock market for fear that they would inflation higher. But good news for the economy is once again good news for Wall Street, especially after a report showed that the U.S. Employers withdrew their hiring quota last month by much more than expected.

In the bond market, the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes climbed to 3.91% from 3.84% late Wednesday following the strong economic data. The yield on two-year US Treasury notes jumped to 4.09% from 3.96% late Wednesday.

Traders continue to expect that the Federal Reserve lowered the key interest rate at its next meeting in September, which would be the first such cut since the COVID crash in 2020.

In energy trading, US oil lost 81 cents to $77.35 per barrel. The international standard grade Brent lost 56 cents and was at $80.48 per barrel.

The euro cost 1.0983 dollars, compared to 1.0971 dollars previously.