Profits at Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland almost evaporated in the second quarter after a vast US fine over its role in the notorious subprime crisis, the lender said Friday.

British bank Barclays said Thursday that it returned to net profit in the first half of 2018, after logging a loss last time on the sale of its Africa division.

The Bank of England appears set Thursday to hike interest rates to combat high inflation, as it eyes fallout from both Brexit and the global trade war, economists say.

European stock markets sank Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly raised the stakes in a global trade war with China, dealers said.

Wall Street stocks rose early Wednesday on strong Apple earnings and another good set of U.S. hiring data.

About 55 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 25,463.48, up 0.2 percent.

Pakistan hit back Wednesday at U.S. fears that any IMF bailout its new government might have to seek would be used to repay Chinese loans, stating that it was "totally wrong" to link the two.

Saudi King Salman has arrived for a holiday in NEOM, a still-undeveloped mega city that the crown prince has pledged to build from scratch in the kingdom's remote northwest, state media said Monday.

Saudi Arabia sought to raise billions through a historic Aramco IPO to remake its oil-dependent economy, but with those efforts floundering the state-owned giant is mulling what analysts call a risky Plan B.

The Turkish central bank on Tuesday sharply hiked its inflation forecast for 2018 to well over 13 percent, putting new pressure on the embattled lira and raising fears over the extent of price pressure in the economy.

Apple will release quarterly earnings figures Tuesday as it flirts with a history-making, trillion-dollar market value based on its share price.