Australians went to the poll on Saturday to vote in the country's Parliamentary election, as surveys showed that the Labor Party lead over the Liberal-National coalition is at 51.5% to 48.5%.
On Friday, crude oil prices hit the $73 mark per barrel. The surge was attributed to OPEC supply cuts and concern about potential disruption to the Middle East shipments.
Patrick Byrne, the Chief Executive Officer of Overstock.com, defended his personal stock sale after the company's shareholders questioned the move.
A senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister, that China opposes unilateral US sanctions against Iran.
Wall Street edged lower on Friday, after a three consecutive trading session of gains, following China's media tough talk on trade.
On Friday, Samsung Electronics Co announced that it had not made a decision on further investment in its memory chip plant in Xian, China.
On Friday, the Central Bank of China announced that it would cut funding costs, mostly for small companies, amid US trade tensions.
The University of Michigan announced that the US consumer sentiment reached a fifteen-month high in early May. However, the gains were recorded before the latest US-China trade war.
On Friday, the White House announced that the US President Donald Trump would delay a decision on tariffs on cars and parts imported from Japan and the European Union.
Nestle's head of Marketing and Communications Frank Pflaumer stated on Friday that the company would boost its natural and healthier food products in Brazil.
According to sources with knowledge of the matter, the FBI is investigating Johnson & Johnson, Philips, Siemens and General Electric over the Brazilian graft case.
Brexit talks between the UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the opposition Labour Party have broken down, throwing the United Kingdom further into political disarray.
On Friday, Pinterest's shares edged lower by about 17% after forecast showed that it would take the company two years to become profitable.
The Japanese Yen edged up against a basket of major currencies on Friday, and the Chinese Yuan hit a six-month low, as the US-China trade war increased concerns about the global economic growth.
Olaf Scholz, Germany's Finance Minister, said that he expected the OECD to reach an agreement on minimum taxation for digital firms by 2020.
Manufacturing sales increased 2.1% to $43B in March on better sales of transportation equipment and primary metals, the Statistics Canada reports.
South Korean industrial companies reported a decline in profits in the first quarter of the current year on the global economic slump, data published by the national stock exchange shows.
The Chinese government invested more than $222B in the healthcare sector the previous year, an annual growth of 11.7%, the State Council of the People's Republic of China reports.
The Asian Development Bank President Takehiko Nakao met with the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to discuss loans for projects in energy and transportation sectors.
Samsung is investing more than $14B to build its chip plant in the northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the Vice President of Samsung China Semiconductor, Hyunki Ji, says.
The agricultural trade between the Central and Eastern European Countries and China has grown rapidly to $1.2B on an annual basis, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Changfu says.
The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with the Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Yang Jiechi, to discuss bilateral relations.
The US President Donald Trump postponed tariffs on imported cars and car parts for half a year to "address the national security threat", the White House reports.
South Africa wants more innovation in the tourism sector to offer new tourist destinations, the Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom says.