Global equity funds attracted inflows for a fourth straight week through October 15, as dovish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reinforced expectations that the central bank will cut interest rates at its meeting later this month. Investor appetite, however, remained cautious amid renewed U.S.-China trade tensions after President Donald Trump indicated he may scale back certain trade ties with Beijing. Learn More

Japan's three largest banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group, will jointly issue "stablecoins", digital currencies pegged to the value of real-world currencies. The banks will build a structure for their corporate clients to allow for stablecoins to be transferred between them along uniform standards, initially issuing a yen-pegged coin and potentially a dollar-pegged coin in the future. Learn More

Gold prices fell more than 2% on Friday after hitting a record high above $4,300 per ounce, pressured by a firmer dollar and U.S. President Donald Trump's comment that a "full-scale" tariff on China would be unsustainable. Spot gold was down 2.6% at $4,212.99 per ounce at 12:39 p.m. ET (1639 GMT), after scaling an all-time high of $4,378.69 earlier in the session. The metal breached $4,300/oz for the first time on Thursday, and is set for a weekly gain of about 5%. Learn Mor