The S&P 500 was unable to match the Dow Jones Industrial Average by closing at a record high for a second consecutive session on Friday, as tech stocks weighed on the broader market and erased the morning’s gains.

Twitter has admitted that external developers might have been able to read private messages sent by millions of its users for more than a year.

American Airlines cruised higher on Friday, with shares rising by the most in a month after the US carrier became the latest to raise prices for check-in luggages.

Competition fears meant Just Eat missed out on a London market rebound. Reports that Uber was in early-stage talks to buy Deliveroo, the takeaway ordering app, sparked concerns about a sector price war with Canaccord calling the news “potentially terrifying for Just Eat”.

Unite, the UK’s largest union, will ballot members on what could be the biggest ever industrial action in the North Sea, as workers push for a bigger share of the windfall following the recent rally in crude prices.

Shares in mining company Continental Gold dropped to a 16-month low on Friday after three of its workers were murdered in northern Colombia in an attack the firm and the army blamed on dissident members of the Farc guerrilla group.

Industrial metal prices soared on Friday as trade war fears eased, boosting shares in leading mining companies.

Shares in Farfetch, an online luxury fashion retailer, jumped 50 per cent on their trading debut, valuing the company at $8.6bn as investors once again demonstrated huge appetite for technology flotations.

Coal miner Peabody Energy has announced its first acquisition since it emerged from bankruptcy protection last year.

US stocks were back at record highs on Friday and putting the S&P 500 on track for its biggest back-to-back weekly gain in two months.

Brent crude surpassed the $80 a barrel mark on Friday ahead of a meeting of energy officials who are meeting this weekend to discuss output policy as US sanctions on Iran’s oil exports already begin to restrict supplies.

Gold prices fell sharply Friday as the dollar rebounded from its lowest level in two months against major currencies and global stock markets hit a six month high.

The pound came under pressure following Prime Minister Theresa May’s statement on the fraught state of Brexit talks.

The price of UK government debt rose on Friday after prime minister Theresa May said in a press conference at Downing Street that Brexit negotiations had run into the sand.

A defiant Theresa May on Friday accused EU leaders of failing to show “respect” to Britain and threw down the gauntlet to Brussels to shift its position or risk a breakdown in Brexit negotiations and a no deal exit.

Billionaire hedge fund magnate John Paulson is leading a consortium of investors determined to reverse the lacklustre performance of gold miners, in the latest sign of growing investor frustration with the sector.

Canadian inflation eased in August from the previous month’s near 7-year high but the pullback is unlikely to change market expectations that the country’s central bank will push ahead with another interest rate hike next month.

The announcement of a planned statement on the Brexit talks by UK prime minister Theresa May sent the pound to a fresh daily low on Friday afternoon, falling almost 0.9 per cent against the dollar.

Scotland’s highest court announced on Friday it would seek an early ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union on whether the UK could unilaterally revoke its decision to leave the EU.

US futures indicate Wall Street could be little changed at the open on Friday, a day after the S&P 500 and Dow closed at record highs.

Dominic Chappell, the former bankrupt who bought BHS for £1, was on Friday branded as “evasive” and “completely unbelievable” by a judge, who dismissed his appeal to overturn a criminal conviction for failing to co-operate with the UK pensions regulator, which was investigating a hole in the BHS pension scheme.

India’s stock market fell sharply on Friday, weighed down by the financial sector as shares in Yes Bank and mortgage lender Dewan Housing Finance Corporation slumped.

Shares in Nyrstar slumped to a record low on Friday after Europe’s largest zinc producer warned on profits.

Shares in one of China’s largest lithium producers Ganfeng Lithium jumped by 10 per cent on Friday, after it revealed it had signed a three-year supply deal with Tesla.