Fresh merger and acquisition activity helped lift U.S. stocks higher in a holiday-shortened week that was otherwise light on trading catalysts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 110.90 points (0.67 percent) for the week to 16,717.17, setting a fresh record on Friday.

China has signaled it will further ease monetary policy to kick-start the world's second largest economy by cutting the amount of funds that some banks must hold in reserve, according to a government statement.

The State Council, China's cabinet, announced after a meeting on Friday that it would trim reserve requirements for banks which lend to the agricultural sector and small enterprises, said the statement posted on the central government website.

Home prices in major Chinese cities posted their first monthly decline in nearly two years in May, an independent survey showed Saturday, providing new evidence the once red-hot market is losing steam.

The average price of a new home in 100 major cities declined this month by 0.32 percent from April to 10,978 yuan ($1,758) per square metre, according to the China Index Academy (CIA), the first fall since June 2012.

The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce made an urgent plea Thursday to relaunch relations between Cuba and the United States.

Thomas Donohue spoke at the end of the highest-profile visit of an American official to the communist-ruled island in years.

Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg put out word late Thursday that he and his wife Priscilla Chan are pumping $120 million into San Francisco Bay Area schools.

Distribution of the money will be spread over five years, with initial grants going toward initiatives for providing computers and Internet access in public schools as well as training teachers and enlisting parents in efforts to keep students on track.

Apple's $3 billion purchase of headphone maker and streaming music company Beats Electronics sheds light on a rarely recognized reality in the music-streaming industry: It's hard to succeed in the business without offering other products and services.

Streaming-music companies like Beats Music, which charge users up to $10 a month, can sometimes pay as much as 70 percent of their revenue in artist royalty fees. That leaves little left for advertising and promotional campaigns to explain to consumers the benefits of paying for a music service.

Spain reported Friday a feeble increase in consumer prices in May as the eurozone struggled with the spectre of an economically damaging deflationary spiral.

Spanish consumer prices rose at an annual rate of just 0.2 percent in May, held down by lower food and soft drink prices, said an initial estimate by the National Statistics Institute calculated in line with European Union norms. 

The head of Australia's transport safety bureau has defended the fruitless hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, saying he is confident that search teams are targeting the right area.

Satellite analysis in the days after the Boeing 777 went missing on March 8 with 239 people onboard placed the jet somewhere in a huge tract of the Indian Ocean stretching from near Indonesia south towards Antarctica.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) may need to keep up its stimulus drive for an "extended period", the International Monetary Fund said Friday, as it warned again that Tokyo must follow through on promised economic reforms.

Fears that a recent sales tax rise would dent a recovery in the world's number three economy have boosted speculation that the BoJ would be forced to expand its monetary easing campaign to counter any downturn.

British supermarket giant Tesco has completed the creation of its Chinese joint venture, forming the largest multi-format retailer in China, it said on Thursday.

The groups had already revealed plans earlier this year to combine Tesco's 131 branches and shopping mall operation in China, with China Resources Enterprise's Vanguard business that has 2,986 stores.