Equity markets broadly moved sideways in a holiday-shortened trading week that was mostly absent of any notable directional drivers outside of a stream of first quarter corporate earnings reports.

U.S. equities closed out a choppy week of trading on a positive note following better than expected first quarter earnings reports from several large banks and a rebound in Chinese export data.

Equity markets continued to push higher in a quiet week from a headline perspective, outside of some solid U.S. employment data and signs of improving manufacturing activity in the U.S. and China.

U.S. equities notched another positive weekly return to finish off one of the best quarterly results since 2009, despite concerns of slowing global economic growth.

Despite more data showing a slowdown in manufacturing activity around the globe, U.S. equities rebounded strongly last week, posting their best weekly gains on the year.