Global stocks and the euro rallied on Friday on signs of progress in U.S.-China trade talks and hopes that Britain was moving closer to a smooth exit from the European Union.
General Motors Co took the unusual step of appealing directly to its unionized employees in a blog post on Friday that laid out its latest offer aimed at ending a month-long strike, drawing an angry response from the union that the automaker was trying to "starve ... workers off the picket lines.”
A fierce, wind-driven wildfire swept through foothills and canyons along the northern edge of Los Angeles on Friday, engulfing homes, closing roads and devouring acre upon acre of dry brush and chaparral as 100,000 residents were forced to flee.
U.S. officials on Friday signaled good news was coming after a second day of trade talks with China ended, boosting investor hopes that the world's two largest economies would agree to cool the fires of their 15-month tariff war.
U.S. stocks rose sharply on Friday as hopes grew that the talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He would culminate in a partial trade deal and delay planned U.S. tariff increases.
California Governor Gavin Newsom called a widespread electricity shutdown triggered by a power company to prevent wildfires "unacceptable", as gale-force winds and dry weather posed a critical fire threat to the north of the state.
Oil prices rose more than 2% on Friday after Iranian media said a state-owned oil tanker was attacked in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia, while optimism surrounding the U.S.-China trade war lifted sentiment.
A U.S. Bankruptcy Judge signaled support on Friday for a six-month pause to litigation led by 24 states against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP to give the company time to settle thousands of lawsuits alleging it fueled a deadly nationwide opioid crisis.
Citibank has agreed to pay a $30 million fine to settle charges of repeated violations of real estate holding rules and for failing to meet its commitment to take corrective actions, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said on Friday.
