stocks opened higher on friday—attempting to recoup some of their losses from this week—as investors assessed the latest batch of corporate earnings from major banks and markets got a boost from strongerthanexpected retail sales markets rebounded the dow jones industrial average jumped 12 around 400 points while the sp 500 gained 11 and the techheavy nasdaq composite 11 investor sentiment got a boost from commerce department data showing that retail sales jumped 1 in june as consumers spent more on a wide range of goods—everything from food to gas—despite inflation recently hitting a new fourdecade high major banks continued to report secondquarter earnings shares of wells fargo fell roughly 1 after the bank set aside money for bad loans and said profits declined by nearly half since a year ago shares of citigroup meanwhile rose 3 after the bank reported strong revenue and profits that exceeded analyst expectations in large part thanks to rising interest rates and solid trading revenues the results follow “underwhelming” earnings results from the likes of morgan stanley and jpmorgan chase a day earlier with both firms seeing large declines in profits amid a “volatile market environment” despite friday’s gains markets continue to be roiled by recession fears with the latest redhot inflation data consumer prices rose 91 in june compared to a year ago increasing the likelihood of bigger rate hikes from the federal reserve given the strong retail sales report “the us may actually post positive growth figures for q2 and avoid two consecutive quarters of negative growth” predicts jeffrey roach chief economist for lpl financial “the fed could try to use this data to support a largerthanexpected hike later this month” he says adding that if “the consumer is stable enough the fed could indeed implement a large hike without breaking the economy” what to watch for stocks are attempting to snap a fiveday losing streak coming off of a mixed session on thursday the sp 500 is down roughly 21 so far in 2022 china’s economic growth took a major hit following months of strict covid lockdowns in several major cities the country’s secondquarter gdp grew by just 04 compared to a year ago—a sharp decline from the 48 growth rate in the first quarter of 2022 according to official data published on friday inflation spiked 91 in june—hitting new 40year high as price surge fuels recession fears forbes