Sean Spicer has resigned as White House press secretary after President Donald Trump’s decision to name former hedge fund executive Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, according to US media.

The US is banning American citizens from travelling to North Korea, an official said on Friday, following the death of college student Otto Warmbier and amid escalating tension with the pariah state.

The Canadian dollar strengthened on Friday after a rise in core inflation and solid May retail sales figures further strengthened the case for the Bank of Canada to hike rates again this year.

Spanish construction and infrastructure giant ACS confirmed on Friday that it is considering a counteroffer for Spanish toll operator Abertis, which is currently the object of a €16.3bn takeover bid from Italian rival Atlantia.

Industrials led the decline on the S&P 500 and Dow after General Electric posted downbeat results and helped drag the sector lower.

Diversey agreed to remove a controversial clause from a high-yield bond sale on Friday, according to sources with knowledge of the matter, after facing pushback from investors concerned about its potential misuse.

Bank of America has picked Dublin as the main base for its EU investment banking and markets operations after Brexit, chief executive Brian Moynihan told the Financial Times.

A £14bn lawsuit brought against Mastercard for imposing charges on UK consumers will not be able to be brought as a class action involving 46m claimants, a tribunal has ruled.

Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services group by market capitalisation, has pointed to “robust” activity in North America and strengthening markets in some other parts of the world as its revenues and earnings rose in the second quarter.

A “raging bull” euro was weighing on European stocks on Friday, with Germany’s Dax among the worst-hit as indices across the eurozone extended their early losses.

A rebound in its all-important aerospace business, along with continued demand for its home and building technologies helped Honeywell deliver another quarter of forecast-busting results.

General Electric, the US’s largest manufacturing group by market capitalisation, reported a 45 per cent drop in earnings per share for the second quarter of the year, in its last set of results before Jeff Immelt, chief executive for almost 16 years, steps down.

Shares in India’s listed telecom operators slumped on Friday after new competitor Reliance Industries unveiled a budget handset aimed at luring low-income customers.

The rand bounced back on Friday morning after yesterday’s surprise interest rate cut hit the South African currency, as analysts predict that a weak dollar and high risk appetite will outweigh local concerns (for now at least).

Ireland’s central bank has boosted its leadership team with two new appointments to manage financial regulation, easing its staffing headaches as it attempts to deal with the workload created by Brexit and Dublin’s growing importance as a financial centre.

The pound at $1.40? OK, bear with us…

Sun Hongbin, the chairman of property developer Sunac, has been named the new chairman of embattled tech company LeEco.

Swatch has provided fresh evidence of a rebound in Swiss watch making after reporting a return to profits and sales growth in the first half of this year.

The UK government borrowed more than expected last month, pushing up the country’s deficit by nearly £2bn in the three months to the end of June.

Edging down.

Inflation forecasts in the eurozone have been cut in a survey of private sector economists carried out by the European Central Bank, underscoring policymakers’ difficulties in stoking prices pressures even as the recovery takes grip.

Shares in gold miner Acacia are losing their lustre this morning (if any remained), sliding more than 6 per cent after its clash with the Tanzanian government took a bite out of revenues, profits and cash reserves in the six months to June.

Paysafe is the best performing stock in the UK this morning after it received a takeover bid from a consortium of Blackstone and CVC Partners.

The dollar index fell to its lowest level in over a year, in a sign that political tensions in Washington are spilling over into financial markets.

The International Monetary Fund is keeping the pressure on in Greece.

Having approved “in principle” a largely symbolic cash injection for the country, the IMF is pressuring its eurozone partners to provide more realistic budget targets and ambitious debt relief as its price for involvement in the Greek bailout.