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The Friday Market MinuteGlobal stocks hit a fresh record high after blowout data from China, and yesterday’s stronger-than-expected retail sales and jobs figures from the U.S., cement the case for a surging post-pandemic recovery.China expands at a first quarter clip of 18.3%, the fastest on record, as March retail sales rise more than 30% from last year’s pandemic-depressed levels.Benchmark 10-year note yields ease to a five-week low of 1.529% in overnight trading amid a puzzling pullback in Treasury yields that belies the underlying improvements in economic data.CDC data shows 78.5 million Americans have now been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, with around 198.3 million doses administered as of Wednesday.U.S. equity futures suggest a firmer open on Wall Street following first quarter earnings from Morgan Stanley and better-than-expected March housing starts data.U.S. equity future moved higher Friday, following the first-ever close over 34,000 for the Dow, as investors continued to digest a steady stream of positive corporate and economic data while tracking a puzzling pullback in Treasury yields.

First-quarter GDP data from China was added to the mix Friday, with the world’s second-largest economy roaring back to life with a record 18.3% expansion over the first three months of the year. 

Coupled with better-than-expected readings for March retail sales and factory output, the figures put China firmly on pace to match its 2021 growth estimates while powering the region’s broader post-pandemic recovery. 

China’s impressive first-quarter performance followed a much stronger-than-expected reading for U.S. retail sales last month, rapidly improving jobless claims figures and manageable levels of consumer price inflation.

The latter, in fact, could be the trigger for a sharp pullback in Treasury bond yields, as a rally in prices Thursday that extended into overnight trading pulled 10-year notes to a five-week low of 1.528%. 

However, with faster inflation a near arithmetic certainty over the coming months, lawmakers debating another $2 trillion infrastructure spending bill and consumers preparing to re-enter the retail economy as the vaccine rollout accelerates, the current low-yield environment remains somewhat of a mystery.

It did help stocks to a record close last night, however, and futures suggest most of those gains will hold heading into the start of a Friday session highlighted by first-quarter earnings from Morgan Stanley  (MS) – Get Report and housing starts data for the month of March.

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Contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average suggest a modest 100-point opening bell gain for the 30-stock average, while those linked to the S&P 500 are pricing in a 10-point gain for the broader benchmark. 

Morgan Stanley, in fact, blasted first quarter earnings forecasts thanks in part to record wealth management inflows, sending its shares 0.4% higher in pre-market trading.

Nasdaq Composite futures, meanwhile, were set to add around 20 points to last night’s rally as 10-year note yields creep higher following China’s blowout GDP and retail sales data. 

DraftKings shares were a notable pre-market mover on the tech-focused index, rising more than 4% after agreeing a sports betting partnership with the NFL.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, remains caught in a downdraft that’s lasted for most of the past two weeks, helping oil prices bump higher for a fifth consecutive session amid renewed energy demand bets.

WTI crude for May delivery was marked 11 cents higher in overnight trading at $67.15 per barrel while Brent contracts added 22 cents to $63.57 per barrel. 

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 hit a fresh all-time high of 489.24 points in early Frankfurt trading, boosted by a stronger-than-expected first quarter profit estimate from luxury carmaker Daimler AG and March inflation data that was largely in-line with economists forecasts of 1.3%, and well shy of the European Central Bank’s ‘just below 2%’ target.

Overnight in Asia, China’s data boosted lifted the region-wide MSCI ex-Japan index to a 0.42% gain on the session, paced by advances in Hong Kong and Shanghai, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed out the week with a modest 0.14% gain to peg the benchmark at 29,683.37 points.

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