Stocks shrug off soft US data Friday 21.20 BST. Equity markets shrugged off lacklustre data, mixed corporate results and even Spain's credit rating downgrade, to wrap up the week on a high note with sentiment bolstered by hopes for central bank support. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 recovered from an early swoon to gain 0.7 per cent, but and the FTSE All-World index advanced 0.4 per cent. Wall Street's S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent even after a slightly softer than expected reading of US first-quarter gross domestic product. For the week, the index gained 1.8 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced more than 2 per cent. Analysts said components of the US GDP report still pointed to strong consumer activity and aside from a few misses, the company reporting season had been mostly well-received. The real story here is the strength of US corporations and how well these corporates are being run. Apple is not the only example here, this is broad-based," said Brien O'Brien, chief executive at Chicago-based Advisory Research. The dollar index was down 0.2 per cent, yet money was reluctant to leave bolt-holes such as the US 10-year bond, where yields closed down 1 basis point at 1.94 per cent. Meanwhile, in commodities copper was up 0.8 per cent to $3.80 a pound but Brent crude fell 0.4 per cent to $119.48 a barrel. The rather mixed broader market illustrated how a battle for investors" hearts and wallets was being played out between the macro, micro and monetary. The macroeconomic backdrop remains worrying. Granted, Friday's US GDP report included some good figures on consumption - backed up later by firm April household confidence figures - but otherwise surveys of global economic activity, particularly regarding Europe, have been disappointing. Furthermore, the broader market continues to face intermittent worries about the fiscal health of the eurozone. The latest sentiment-sapper is news that Standard & Poor's has downgraded Spain's credit rating by two notches and assigned a negative outlook for the country, citing significant risks to its economy and budget. Adding to the pressure was news that Spain's unemployment rate hit 24 per cent, the highest in 20 years. Madrid's bonds were weaker as a result, sparking a widening of spreads for Italy too after Rome's auction of short-term paper on Friday met with soft demand. The Spanish 10-year yield remained below 6 per cent, but has risen 7 basis points to 5.90 per cent. The euro took the news on the chin when it came out late on Thursday, swiftly dropping 40 pips to about $1.3180. However, it had news of a Dutch budget deal to support it and gained 0.4 per cent to $1.3240 as the buck weakens in response to the GDP figures. After a rare bad day early on Thursday, the first-quarter earnings season provided balm for the bulls. Shares in Amazon, the world's largest internet retailer, rose 14 per cent after demand for its Kindle ereader helped revenues climb 34 per cent to $13.2bn in its first quarter. In Seoul, shares in Samsung Electronics, the world's largest technology group by sales, moved higher after confirming record first-quarter profits and saying it expected to outgrow the handset and chip markets in the current quarter. Not all was rosy in the corporate space, of course. In Tokyo, Nintendo's stock sank after the Wii-maker delivered its first annual loss in more than 50 years. But if traders get too disheartened, they always know that the world's central banks will try to provide some monetary pep. Comments on Wednesday from the US Federal Reserve were taken by many traders as signalling it stood ready to deliver additional stimulus if required. That may be why traders are taking the softer than expected GDP numbers in their stride. Additional reporting by Jamie Chisholm in New York