LIVE: FTSE 100 and european stocks rise as Ben Bernanke to lead Bank of England review
Stocks in the UK and Europe made muted moves on Friday as central bank decisions and a slew of company reports remain on investors' minds going into the weekend.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was 0.2% higher ahead of market open in the US. The CAC (^FCHI) was up 0.1% and Germany's DAX (^GDAXI) rose 0.3%.
The moves came as it was announced Nobel Prize winner Ben Bernanke will lead a review into how the Bank of England (BoE) forecasts the economy. Bernanke, a big name in central banking, is set to be supported by the BoE's Independent Evaluation Office.
Bernanke was the chairman of the US Federal Reserve for eight years until 2014.
The review comes following criticisms of the bank, which failed to predict the scale and duration of inflation post-COVID.
US stocks opened firmly in the green following a read on inflation which saw numbers softening, with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rising 0.8%, the Dow (^DJI) up 0.5% and the Nasdaq (^IXIC) up 1.5%.
Read more: Trending tickers: IAG | NatWest | AstraZeneca | Intel
Meanwhile, several major FTSE companies reported on Friday morning. Scandal-plagued NatWest (NGW.L) beat expectations in its first-half results as it grapples with the fallout of the departure of its CEO Alison Rose.
Rose left the taxpayer-backed bank after it was revealed she had inaccurately briefed a BBC journalist about the banking matters related to politician Nigel Farage's account at private bank Coutts.
NatWest revealed £3.6bn ($4.6bn) in pre-tax profits — an increase on the £2.6bn achieved in the same period last year. Its bottom line was boosted by rising interest rates.
Elsewhere, in Europe inflation in France has cooled to its lowest annual rate in 16 months, according to fresh data. Falling energy prices are partially to blame. There was also a slowdown in food inflation.
Markets are also still digesting a European Central Bank rate hike on Thursday, which brought the base rate from 4% to 4.25%.
Watch: NatWest profits surge as bank reels from Nigel Farage de-banking debacle
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