Samsung Electronics reported better-than-expected profits on Thursday, driven by elevated prices of memory chips, the launch of the Galaxy S8 smartphone series and flat panel displays.

Discovery Communications is moving forward with discussions to buy Scripps Networks Interactive after another suitor, Viacom, dropped out of the running, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Federal Reserve has signalled it is ready to start unwinding its crisis-era stimulus programme as soon as its next meeting, suggesting that the central bank remains confident in the US outlook even as it acknowledges weak inflation readings.

South Korea’s economy hit its marks in the second quarter, but will have to kick things up another notch if it is to hit the new 3 per cent growth rate outlined by President Moon Jae-in this week.

Stronger North American sales weren’t enough to keep Whirlpool’s profits from sinking lower during the second quarter, and the appliance maker has lowered its earnings guidance, blaming rising raw-material inflation and sluggish Chinese and European markets.

German insurer Allianz has reported a 23 per cent jump in second-quarter profits and says that its full-year numbers will be towards the top end of its target range.

Mobile transactions continue to drive growth at PayPal.

Brazil’s monetary policy committee slashed its benchmark Selic rate by a full percentage point to 9.25 per cent at its meeting on Wednesday, after annual inflation fell to a decade low of 3 per cent in June.

Gilead shares ticked upwards in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the biotech company released earnings well ahead of Wall Street forecasts and boosted its full-year sales and profit guidance.

The US Senate rejected a Republican plan to repeal Obamacare without having an alternative ready as lawmakers struggled to reach consensus on healthcare.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average joined the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite in setting new record closing highs on Wednesday.

Meg Whitman has stepped down from the board of directors at HP Inc, amid speculation that she could be in the running for the top job at ride-sharing company Uber.

Facebook beat analyst expectations with soaring earnings and revenue, in the social network’s first earnings report since it hit two billion users.

Colombian airline Avianca has become the latest airline to pull out of Venezuela due to the deteriorating security situation, which has sent passenger numbers tumbling.

Lloyds Banking Group has set up a £300m redress scheme to repay thousands of mortgage customers as a result of failings in its arrears policies.

Gold pushed higher and the dollar fell after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady as widely expected and signalled that it was ready to start gradually shrinking its $4.5tn balance sheet.

The Federal Reserve indicated in its latest statement that it could begin the process of unwinding its $4.5tn balance sheet as early as September, when it is next slated to meet.

The statement noted that the Federal Open Market Committee — the monetary policy setting body of the Fed — would begin implementing its balance sheet normalisation plan “relatively soon”, compared with the previous statement where it indicated it would make such a move “this year”.

Second-quarter profits at Deutsche Boerse dropped 4 per cent compared with the same period last year, to €176.3m, with the exchanges group reporting that growth in interest-rate derivatives trading volumes was offset by the effects of lower activity in the cash market, as well as quiet equities and index derivatives markets.

Whole Foods, the upscale grocer that agreed to be acquired by Amazon for $13.7bn earlier this year, reported its eighth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales decline on Wednesday, underscoring its struggle to stand out in an industry where it’s no longer the only large-scale purveyor of natural and organic goods

The Federal Reserve signaled it is ready to start unwinding its crisis-era stimulus programme as soon as its next meeting, suggesting that the central bank remains confident in the US outlook even as it acknowledges a spate of weak inflation readings.

Lloyd Blankfein has declared himself the “chocolate-chip cookie king of the world” and urged Goldman Sachs’ summer interns to “be interesting” and cultivate outside interests as they start out in the world of high finance.

The success of the Rafale fighter jet and continued demand for Falcon business jets helped France’s Dassault Aviation report a jump in profits during the first six months of the year.

Brussels has agreed to Royal Bank of Scotland’s revised £800m plan to meet European Commission rules for its £45.5bn government bailout during the financial crisis, relieving the lender of its obligation to divest Williams & Glyn.

Shares in asset management heavyweight BlackRock might have already gained nearly 20 per cent over the past year to hit a record high of $442.83 earlier this month.

But Daniel Loeb, the activist hedge fund manager behind Third Point, is betting that there is still more to come in the rally.