Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, and Boris Johnson have taken the US line on the attacks on Saudi oil facilities, saying it was "clear" Iran was behind the strikes. However, the three governments called for diplomacy.

Saudi Arabia is recovering ahead of schedule from attacks on its oil industry as total production capacity has been restored to more than 11 million barrels a day. Bloomberg's Annmarie Hordern reports on "Bloomberg Surveillance."

Samsung Electronics was upbeat on Thursday even though it reported that third-quarter operating profit more than halved due to low prices of memory chips, saying chip sales should pick up next year.

Pre-tax profits at Europe's largest bank HSBC slumped by 48 percent in the first three months of 2020, as the lender felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its business. The bank has set aside $3 billion to cover losses from unpaid loans, 417 percent higher than the same period last year. Also today, US oil prices slumped again in early trading after an investment fund sold all its short-term contracts to buy crude. A plunge in demand for oil due to lockdown measures has resulted in a massive glut of supply in the market.

Microsoft has reported a rise in profits, exceeding Wall Street expectations. The tech giant's cloud computing services have flourished in a global economy reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

HSBC said Monday its first-half post-tax profits for 2020 plunged 69 percent on year.

As pharma companies announce promising results from their coronavirus vaccine testing, we look at the expectations of profits that will be made. We speak to Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC markets.

Saudi Arabia's state-backed oil company Aramco announced a heavy slump in profits, as the global coronavirus pandemic takes its economic toll.

Saudi officials said that eight drones were deployed in the attack. Houthi forces said they also targeted sites owned by Saudi Aramco, and military structures.

Profits at Apple more than doubled in the first three months of 2021, as sales of all its flagship products soared. Demand for company's biggest earner, the iPhone, was boosted by the latest model, which can be used on 5G mobile networks.

Apple, Microsoft and Google's parent company Alphabet have seen a surge in revenue. The results are attributed to the coronavirus pandemic — but also the easing of lockdowns.

A report by three US activist groups claims Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter made billions from US government contracts since 2004.