Approaching the weekend break, the FTSE is off session highs, but still looking upbeat.

After yesterday’s bumper gains, it’s been a choppy day for the London's leading  index. Early profit taking took its toll through the morning, but a far bigger-than-expected increase in US non-farm payrolls delivered a shot in the arm for equity traders. There have been some jitters across the Atlantic as to whether this potentially inflationary news could offer any more upside for stocks, but the bulls are now winning on Wall Street.

We’ve had a busy few days for earnings and this is set to continue into next week, with Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Associated British Foods, Vodafone and Inmarsat among the higher profile names reporting. There’s also the Bank of England’s quarterly inflation report, plus inflation and trade balance data from China. Numbers from Beijing are increasingly direction sentiment in Europe and there are also the cautionary notes from RBS and HSBC about the likely outlook for Q4 to bear in mind. It may be looking like an ebullient end to the week, but the question to be asked is whether this can be sustained until Wall Street closes and what’s the hangover going to look like on Monday morning.