Fed funds futures price U.S. rates higher for longer
Stocks focus on economic signals and climb

Feb 16 Reuters Stocks rose on Thursday as economic data from around the world fed hopes that the global economy might not face as hard a landing as feared a few months ago, even as interest rates threaten to remain higher for longer than expected.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 index rose 0.5, while London39;s FTSE 100 continued with its recent run of record highs thanks to with a flurry of share buybacks from banks lifting their stocks.

France39;s CAC 40 advanced 0.8, leaving it a whisker away from record highs.

MSCI39;s all country world price index rose 0.3, on track to recover last week39;s losses and up more than 1 this week. U.S. stock futures were marginally higher.

Data showing U.S. retail sales increased the most in nearly two years in January, as well as cooler inflation and stronger consumer spending in the United States, the euro zone and the UK, gave investors more confidence in the economic outlook.

What is becoming clearer with this particular set of data, is that the U.S. economy in particular has been very resilient and so as a result, the market is sort of pricing out this risk of a hard landing at least in the shortterm, said Julien Lafargue, chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank.

People are feeling a bit better about getting invested. It is positioning that is driving the market, because if you have people who are positioned more for…