It seemed like a case of “It’s Friday, ding the bell already” for stocks, as investors were hit with a stream of Trump-related news, ranging from plans for more tariffs on Chinese imports and displeasure with the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to media reports about his personal life.

Stocks were in a state of torpor on Friday afternoon as investors weighed the Trump administration’s plans to impose tariffs on $500bn of Chinese imports, as well as criticisms from the US president directed toward the Federal Reserve.

Europe’s top banking regulator has rejected a hedge fund’s request for it to investigate whether a big chunk of the core capital at Italy’s biggest bank was invalid.

Analysts were left scratching their heads on Friday as the difference between two- and 10-year Treasury yields came off its lows, moving towards 30 basis points for the first time in almost two weeks.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals was among London’s biggest gainers on hopes that shortages of generic painkillers will provide an earnings boost. Expectations of a price squeeze came after Pfizer, which supplies about three-quarters of the US market for injectable opioids, suspended production at an Indian plant.

Shares in State Street tumbled at the open on Friday after the world’s second biggest trust announced a deal to buy Charles River Development for $2.6bn.

Deutsche Bank will pay nearly $75m to settle charges it improperly handled US securities that represent shares in overseas companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday.

Private equity group PAI Partners has entered exclusive talks to buy Asmodee, the company behind the cult Catan strategy games, from Eurazeo for €1.2bn including debt, according to two people familiar with the transaction.

US stocks cautiously edged up leaving Wall Street eyeing its third week of gains while the US dollar fell sharply after President Trump threatened tariffs on all imports out of China a day after taking a swipe at the Federal Reserve.

The Japanese yen briefly firmed on Friday in the wake of media reports suggesting the country’s central bank was weighing changes to its interest rate targets and asset-purchase programmes.

Krispy Kreme is carb-loading.

The North Carolina-based doughnut and coffee chain on Friday said it will acquire a majority stake in Insomnia Cookies for an undisclosed sum in a move that will expand parent JAB Holding’s coffee and resturant portfolio.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is closing its compensation scheme for customers of its disgraced restructuring unit that is alleged to have mistreated thousands of small businesses it was meant to help during the financial crisis.

Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris and Fortress Investment co-founder Wes Edens have acquired a 55 per cent stake in Aston Villa, taking control of the one of the oldest clubs in English professional football which has been in the midst of a financial crisis.

Here we go again.

Canadian inflation hit its highest level in nearly 6½ years in June amid a pick-up in petrol prices, and lends further credence to the Bank of Canada’s case for hiking interest rates last week.

Agriculture chemicals group UPL agreed to purchase a unit of Platform Specialty Products for $4.2bn on Friday, in a deal that will bolster the company’s offerings of pesticides for farmers.

After taking a drubbing on Thursday in the wake of UK retail sales data, the pound was calmer on Friday, holding comfortably above $1.30.

Lloyds Banking Group has become the latest in a string of British financial institutions to run into IT difficulties, with customers left unable to transfer money for several hours due to problems with one of its most important payments systems.

US stock futures were a mixed bag on Friday as traders digest President Donald Trump’s latest threat to impose tariffs on all imported Chinese goods and pore through a new round of earnings from industrial conglomerates.

Schlumberger, the world’s largest listed oilfield services group, has said a “broad-based global activity upturn” is emerging in the industry as a result of the rebound in crude prices.

What trade jitters?

US industrial conglomerate Honeywell raised its full-year sales and earnings guidance for the third time this year, as strong growth across all segment of its businesses eclipsed uncertainties around US trade policies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday warned that the brewing transatlantic trade war between the US and the EU was now “very serious” and stressed that the imposition of retaliatory tariffs would be the “worst solution.”

The most severe cyber attack in Singapore’s history targeted the personal details and outpatient medication of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and accessed the data of a quarter of the city state’s population.

Germany’s Europe minister has said he is growing “nervous” about the state of Brexit negotiations as EU governments meet for their first formal discussion about the UK’s ‘white paper’ in Brussels today.