Consumer inflation in Japan edged up in April, lifted by pricier energy and utilities, but remained well below the Bank of Japan’s 2 per cent target. 

US copper miner Freeport-McMoRan has sold its cobalt refinery in Finland to Belgium’s Umicore for $150m.

Wall Street fell sharply on Thursday, extending a broad and deep sell-off across global stock markets as concern about the potential impact of the deepening trade dispute between the US and China took a tighter grip on sentiment.

Facebook said it took down a record 2.2bn fake accounts in the first three months of this year, only slightly less than the total number of monthly active users on the social media network, in a sign that its battle against bad actors is far from over.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, was on track for its biggest loss of the year so far on Thursday, as traders weighed the risks from a US-China trade war and rising inventories in the US.

Inditex, the world’s largest clothing retailer, will name chief operating officer Carlos Crespo as chief executive, taking some of the responsibilities now held by executive chairman Pablo Isla, the company said Thursday.

Deutsche Bank shareholders on Thursday evening voted in favor of all members of the struggling lender’s management board and supervisory board, but the approval rating was markedly lower than last year.

A disease ravaging hog farms 11,000km away in China is affecting US restaurant chains and meat producers, leaving customers forking over higher prices for their pork.

Chris Mahoney, the veteran head of Glencore’s agricultural business, has announced his retirement after 17 years as chief executive.

The judge in the trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng, a central figure in the 1MDB scandal, has extended the time for prosecutors to produce evidence and present it to the defence.

Embattled travel group Thomas Cook on Thursday said it received a bid for its northern European business from the private equity firm Triton Partners.

Treasury prices jumped on Thursday, driving the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to its lowest level in over 17 months, as nervous investors sought safety in the face of worsening US-Chinese trade tensions and mounting global growth concerns.

Sales of newly built homes in the US fell by the most in four months in April signalling a softer start to the spring selling season.

The latest round of US tariffs on Chinese imports will cost American households $106bn a year, research from the New York Federal Reserve has found, highlighting the economic costs of the trade dispute.

Sterling extended its losses on Thursday as UK prime minister Theresa May faced continuing pressure to resign, with the Conservative party in revolt over her latest Brexit deal and expecting a drubbing in European elections.

Lloyds Banking Group chief executive António Horta-Osório has been called before MPs to defend the bank’s pension policies after it was criticised for giving executives substantially higher payments than were available to other staff.

Mel Stride has been appointed leader of the House of Commons, replacing Andrea Leadsom who resigned from Theresa May’s government on Wednesday in protest at her Brexit proposals.

Tesla shares were battling to avoid a seventh day of losses as Wall Street analysts have turned more bearish amid demand fears and concerns the US-China trade war could see the automaker miss its delivery target for the year.

BHP Group could follow its rival Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto and exit thermal coal, according to analysts.

MPs have warned the UK Treasury that an investigation of the £236m collapse of London Capital & Finance, which sold unregulated “mini-bonds” to retail customers, must not be “kicked into the long grass”.

The eurozone’s central bankers have voiced concern about market fears that inflation will remain weak for several years, raising the chances of more dovish terms for their fresh offer of cheap central bank cash.

The head of a European pilots’ body has said there were “critical flaws” in the certification process for Boeing’s 737 Max 8, which crashed twice in five months, killing 346 people.

Theresa May appears to have abandoned plans to put her key Brexit legislation in front of the House of Commons in the coming days in the latest sign that her premiership is close to disintegration.

Deutsche Bank’s chief executive Christian Sewing is preparing a radical overhaul of its ailing corporate and investment bank, telling shareholders that the German lender is prepared “to make tough cutbacks”.