The return of inflation and wage growth is giving the Bank of Japan room to raise interest rates and declare the end of a long period of stagnation.

Wall Street is pointing slightly lower in early trading but is on track to close the week with solid gains on healthy quarterly earnings reports from large U.S. corporations.

The UK's FTSE 100 rose on Thursday, ending just short of a fresh record high as investors sought clarity on U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies, while shares in trading companies CMC Markets and IG Group tumbled after results.

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed on Thursday, while investors reacted positively to an updated profit forecast from FTSE 250-listed Spectris.

Japan's finance ministry plans to plug a loophole in reporting requirements for foreign investors under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, in an effort to prevent intelligence from leaking to foreign governments.

World shares were mixed on Thursday after China rolled out more moves to try to boost its lagging stock markets by raising confidence that prices will rise. Germany's DAX gained 0.2% to 21,300 and the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.

(Reuters) - Japanese investors raised their holdings in foreign stocks, driven by a benign U.S. core inflation report that fuelled expectations of Federal Reserve cuts and boosted global equities, while a strong yen also lifted domestic buying power.

Takeshi Niinami, who also heads one of Japan's biggest business lobbies, said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Davos meeting that it is important for firms to show that their investments will create jobs in the U.S..

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son's plan to invest billions in AI in the United States shows one way to handle the new Trump administration: go big and deal with the details later.

Tokyo Gas Co. will look for more opportunities to invest in the US, following a series of acquisitions it’s already made in the country.

Netflix, Oracle and other technology stocks are lifting U.S. indexes Wednesday as their profits pile higher and excitement builds around the moneymaking prospects of artificial intelligence.The S&P 500 was up 0.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 18.3 points, 0.2%, at 8,486.92 on Monday. The index of London large-caps closed 1.4% higher at 8,505.22 on Friday. Sterling was quoted at USD1.2210 early Monday, higher than USD1.2189 at the London equities close on Friday.