After a week full of ups and downs, the Spanish stock index IBEX 35 opened slightly higher on Friday, after confidence in the U.S. economy recovered due to a better-than-expected unemployment data released on Thursday.

It was the biggest drop in jobless claims in almost a year and was welcomed by investors as it helped to allay fears of a recession in the world's leading economy.

This turnaround was reflected in the timing of cuts predicted by market players. According to the FedWatch tool, markets now see a 54% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by half a point in September, down from 69% the previous day.

Even so, analysts at the Renta 4 brokerage house say the US data confirms the divergence on the economic cycle that exists with Europe.

"While it is true that the latest macroeconomic data in the United States were somewhat weak, the good tone of the services ISM and weekly unemployment claims have allowed to alleviate doubts about its economy," the analysts say in a note. "However, in Europe, Monday's PMIs (final data) came to reaffirm the idea of further deterioration of the cycle in the Eurozone."

In China, the July inflation figure of 0.5% was also better than expected, above the 0.3% forecast, raising the specter of deflation and boosting confidence in the country.

At 07:18 GMT on Friday, the selective Spanish stock market index IBEX 35 was up 29.80 points, or 0.28%, to 10,587.80 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.31%.

For the week as a whole, the IBEX 35 was down 0.83%.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.38%, BBVA added 0.77%, Caixabank advanced 0.63%, Sabadell gained 0.71%, Bankinter gained 0.36%, and Unicaja Banco grew 0.70%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.10%, Inditex advanced 0.09%, Iberdrola dropped 0.29%, Cellnex gained 0.57%, and the oil company Repsol gained 1.03%.

(Information by Javi West Larrañaga; edited by Mireia Merino)