Lebanon's central bank announced on Friday that money changers and transfer companies must comply with stricter rules as the country faces heavy U.S. pressure to regulate its cash economy and cut off Hezbollah funding.

Germany's governing coalition agreed to subsidize energy prices for heavy industry over the next three years as it tries to breathe new life into a stubbornly slow economy that is weighing on Europe's performance.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he and other coalition leaders agreed Thursday evening to introduce an electricity price of about 5 euro cents (6 U.S. cents) per kilowatt hour starting Jan. 1, through 2028, to "support companies that use a lot of electricity and face international competition."

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has welcomed a plan by Saudi Arabia to bolster commercial ties with Lebanon, saying that he is "very thankful for the Kingdom's kind initiative".

"We highly value Saudi Arabia's appreciation for the efforts of President Joseph Aoun and the Lebanese government in preventing drug smuggling to our Arab neighbors," Salam said, after a senior Saudi official announced that his country plans to imminently bolster commercial ties with Lebanon after Lebanese authorities demonstrated efficacy curbing drug smuggling to the kingdom over the past months.

EU finance ministers on Thursday agreed to scrap a bloc-wide duty exemption on low-value orders from the likes of retail giants Temu and Shein to help tackle a flood of cheap Chinese imports.

Switzerland's economy minister Guy Parmelin was back in Washington for talks on Thursday, for the third time since the Alpine country was clobbered with huge tariffs.

World shares mostly gained on Thursday after U.S. stocks settled near their records and U.S. President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill, ending the record 43-day shutdown.

The future for S&P 500 edged up 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% ahead of the reopening of the federal government following the standoff that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks.

Economic growth in the U.K. slowed down to a near standstill in the third quarter of the year, official figures showed Thursday, in what is a blow to the British government less than two weeks ahead of a crucial budget that is expected to see taxes rise again.

The Office for National Statistics said that the economy grew by 0.1% between July and September from the previous three-month period. That was down on the previous quarter's 0.3% increase and below market expectations for a 0.2% rise.

President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night, ending a record 43-day shutdown that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks.

The shutdown magnified partisan divisions in Washington as Trump took unprecedented unilateral actions — including canceling projects and trying to fire federal workers — to pressure Democrats into relenting on their demands.

Asian shares were mixed Wednesday in cautious trading after most U.S. stocks rose, settling back to where they were before last week's swoon over the future of artificial intelligence.

U.S. futures edged higher while oil prices declined.

Wall Street is on track to open higher Wednesday with an end to the U.S. government shutdown appearing closer, and technology stocks appeared to regain their footing after wild swings this week.

Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.4% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.3%. Futures for the technology-heavy Nasdaq index rose 0.6%.