The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were on pace for steep weekly losses as chipmakers came under renewed selling pressure on Friday after a stellar run this quarter, with investors questioning high valuations and the repercussions of massive AI spending by companies.
Israel’s former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, who lost a son in Gaza and boasts of his “Dahiyeh doctrine” of smashing foes with disproportionate force, is surging in polls and could oust Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister in a coming election.
Venezuela’s strongest earthquake in over a century is the biggest challenge to Delcy Rodriguez’s leadership but could also allow the interim president to stamp her authority on a fractured government.
Seething over Ukrainian drone strikes and angered by what they see as a failed U.S. promise to broker an end to the war on favourable terms, Russian hardliners are urging President Vladimir Putin to abandon diplomacy and escalate.
Volkswagen is considering shutting four German factories and ramping up job cuts to as many as 100,000, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday, in what could be the biggest overhaul in the carmaker’s history.
Fewer vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday than earlier this week, hours after a Taiwanese-operated ship was fired on by Iran, ship tracking data showed.
Iran warned Gulf states against siding with the U.S., a day after an attack on a ship near Oman highlighted the fragility of a preliminary deal to end the war.