It was a mixed session for global markets on Friday night, with weakness in Europe countered by strength in the US.

In Europe, markets were mostly lower as more downbeat economic data weighed on sentiment.

June data showed Germany’s Ifo index of business confidence fell more than expected.

In London the UK's FTSE 100 shed 53 points (-1%) to settle at 5514, whilst the French CAC (-0.8%) and German DAX (-1.3%) suffered even heavier falls.

Despite Friday night’s losses, benchmark indexes in the UK, Germany and France all rose for the third week in a row.

Stateside, the Dow Jones advanced 67 points (+0.5%) to settle at 12641, whilst the broader S&P (+0.7%) and tech-heavy NASDAQ (+1.2%) enjoyed even stronger gains.

US stocks bounced back a day after the Dow suffered its second-worst loss this year.

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and other big lenders posted solid gains even though many of them had their credit ratings cut the day before.

The Aussie dollar was little changed on Friday night, with the local unit holding above the 1.01 handle against the greenback.

This morning the Aussie is a touch weaker, currently buying US$1.004

The greenback rose for the first time in three weeks versus the euro as the US Fed refrained from additional asset buying while extending its maturity- extension plan, trimming bets on debasing the US currency.

Oil climbed from an eight-month low as US equities bounced after Moody's downgrade of 15 global banks was less severe than threatened.

Oil for August delivery put on $1.56 to settle at US$79.76 a barrel on the NYMEX. Crude is down 19% year-to-date.

Elsewhere in the commodity space copper shed 0.4% whilst gold finished largely unchanged at US$1573 an ounce.

There is no major local economic data due out for today's session.

a href=”http://www.australianstockreport.com.au/free_recommendations.cfm”>Click to Receive FREE Daily Trading Recommendations!

Morning Market Analysis: Mixed Leads is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog