Europe and Britain
Although the FTSE, CAC and DAX managed to be up on the week, investors seemed more equivocal and less sanguine about growth prospects. The FTSE, helped by merger activity, managed to stay above the key resistance level of 4,300 for the first time since August 2002. With signs of the U.S.-led economic recovery gaining momentum, there was a clear switch into more cyclical equities such as media, mining and technology from more defensive sectors.

European stock markets suffered from a flurry of rather modest selling and general profit taking at the end of a mixed week. Shares of European exporters were up amid optimism that accelerating economic growth in the U.S. would boost demand for their products. Expectations of faster growth in the U.S. - Europe's largest export market - has helped boost shares of companies whose sales tend to rise as corporate and personal spending increase. Technology-related stocks such as SAP, the world's biggest maker of business-management software, and Philips have led gains since falling to lows for the year in March.

Asia/Pacific
Asian stocks continue their euphoric rise as data from the U.S. continue to provide evidence of better economic conditions. The performance of the Australia's All Ordinaries index is more comparable to indexes in Europe and Canada than to those in Asia. Asian stock benchmarks rallied this week, with the Kospi index jumping 6 percent on optimism that the U.S. recovery will fuel consumer demand for goods from exporters. The Kospi had its biggest weekly advance in five months after U.S. jobs data on October 3rd suggested Asia's biggest overseas market will sustain its growth, and retail sales there were up in September. The Topix and Nikkei had their second straight week of gains also led by exporters, while Singapore's Straits Times index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index both rallied for a fourth week.

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