European Stocks Higher; China Rate Cut, UK Retail Sales Help

European stock markets traded higher Friday, ending the week on a positive note with investors buoyed by strong U.K. retail sales data as well as China cutting a key lending benchmark. European equities received a boost after China cut its five-year loan prime rate by 15 basis points earlier Friday, the largest cut on record, and comes as Beijing seeks to revive the troubled housing sector to prop up the second-largest economy in the world. China's economy, a key global growth driver, is widely expected to shrink this quarter from a year earlier, compared with first quarter's 4.8% growth, with the property sector seen as a key drag on growth on the back of COVID-related mobility restrictions.