European stocks were headed for their best weekly performance in seven months on Friday, as a bright start to the earnings season helped ease investor concerns about higher inflation. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.3 percent, on course to end the week with a more than 2 percent gain after a sharp rebound in risk appetite in the past two sessions. Banks were the top gainers in Europe, up 1.4 percent, after forecast-beating quarterly results on Thursday from four of Wall Street’s biggest lenders on an economic rebound and deals bonanza. Retailers, oil & gas, and travel all rose between 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent, while defensive utilities fell the most. “A renewed focus on the bottom-up news has helped global equities over the last couple of sessions, and results from the U.S. banking sector delivered another significant boost to indices overnight,” said Peel Hunt analyst Ian Williams. While …