Twitter co-founder and former chief executive Evan Williams is stepping down from the board of the social media platform. 

US stocks finished higher on Friday — with the Dow Jones Industrial Average chalking up its longest weekly winning streak since 1995 — as commentary from the Federal Reserve about its balance sheet policy and hopes about a US-China trade deal buoyed investor sentiment.

Anadarko Petroleum said at least one contractor had been killed and several injured in separate attacks on convoys in northern Mozambique, where energy companies plan to invest at least $40bn in parallel liquefied natural gas projects.

US stocks and Treasuries were comfortably higher at midday on Friday as the Federal Reserve signalled it will hold a much larger balance sheet in the long term than it did before the financial crisis, helping ease investor concerns about tightening financial conditions.

Eurozone economies will be paid to carry out labour market reforms and finance crisis-era investments from the single currency’s new budget, according to a Franco-German blueprint.

Brussels will appeal a court ruling that carmakers have warned could force them to halt the production of millions of vehicles by suddenly tightening environmental testing rules.

Metro Bank has been awarded the largest share of an EU-mandated fund to boost competition in the UK’s business banking sector, despite being under pressure over a serious accounting error.

Volkswagen is projecting higher sales and margins this year even as global car demand appears to have peaked, with deliveries in China, the US and Europe all declining in 2018.

The European Union’s plans for tariff reduction talks with the US received a boost on Friday as ministers rebuffed calls from France to delay the transatlantic negotiations until after May’s EU elections.

A truck carrying acid to a copper and cobalt mine in the Congo owned by Glencore killed 20 people after colliding with two minivans, the miner said.

Three US branches of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group have had deficient compliance programmes since 2016, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said on Friday.

US stocks were set to end the week on a high note on Friday, as investors hunkered down ahead of speeches from policymakers and remained optimistic about US-China trade talks that continue in Washington.

The pound slipped back under $1.30 at lunchtime on Friday, returning to levels seen earlier in the week as another five days of Brexit uncertainty began to wind up.

Brussels has accused Telefónica Deutschland of breaching commitments it gave when it acquired E-Plus for €8.5bn in 2013, and warned that it might force a reversal of the deal.

The UK Serious Fraud Office has closed its investigations into Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline, underlining the agency’s challenge to prosecute individuals whose companies have been linked to criminal activity.

Dublin has published a set of emergency laws to confront a no-deal Brexit, warning that failure in exit talks with the UK would lead to a “lose, lose, lose” scenario for Britain, the EU and Ireland.

A senior EU official warned the bloc had no plans to agree any changes to its Brexit offer on the sidelines of a summit with Arab League leaders that starts on Sunday in the Egyptian coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Rivals BMW and Mercedes-parent Daimler said they would invest €1bn and create 1,000 new jobs as they pool their efforts on “urban mobility” ride-hailing, car-sharing and electric vehicle sharing.

Barclays said that Sir Gerry Grimstone, a non-executive director of the bank and chairman of its non-ringfenced division, would step down at the end of this month.

Business confidence in Germany this month slid to its lowest level since December 2014 in the latest sign of weakness in the Eurozone’s largest economy.

Labour MP Ian Austin on Friday resigned from Britain’s main opposition party in a major challenge to its leftwing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Pearson reported a slide in sales on Friday — but profits rose at the educational publishing group as it promised to stabilise the company this year amid a painful restructuring.

Queues for Eurostar train services at London’s St Pancras International could reach up to 15,000 passengers each day in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to a confidential report drawn up by the British government. 

The Hong Kong chief executive of insurance group Jardine Lloyd Thompson is leaving the company, according to an internal memo seen by the FT.