1. Stock rally pauses after France terror attack
U.S. stocks pushed farther into record territory on Thursday as JPMorgan reported unexpectedly strong quarterly results and led bank stocks higher. Strong U.S. economic data also gave stocks a lift, with producer prices posting their biggest gain in a year in June, and new applications for unemployment benefits holding steady last week. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 134.29 points (0.73 percent) to close at 18,506.41. U.S. stock futures slipped ahead of Friday's open as investors took in news of the Bastille Day terror attack that killed 84 in France.
2. Microsoft wins court fight over releasing emails stored abroad
Microsoft won a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Thursday over a warrant for customers' emails. A New York district court in 2013 issued a warrant for emails stored in an Irish data center, and Microsoft resisted turning them over. In 2014, a federal magistrate told Microsoft to comply, and it appealed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that the company did not have to comply because the customer emails were not stored in the U.S.
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3. Messaging app Line shares soar in stock's debut
Japan's Line Corp.'s stock skyrocketed after making its debut in Tokyo on Friday, with the messaging app operator's share price rising by 48.5 percent over its initial public offering price. The success in Japan came after Line sold about 70 percent more shares in New York, with the stock's price closing up 26.6 percent there. Line's value rose to $8.6 billion in what became the year's biggest tech IPO. Line is the world's seventh biggest messaging app. It has 218 million monthly users, compared to 1 billion for leader WhatsApp.
4. EU hits Google with third set of antitrust charges
European regulators filed new antitrust charges against Google on Thursday, alleging that some of the company's ad products limited consumer choices by discouraging competitors from innovating. The announcement marked the third set of EU charges against Google since early 2015. Google denied the previous two rounds of allegations. The earlier charges involved Google's Android mobile device operating system and its dominant search engine, which has captured 90 percent of Europe's online search market.
5. China's second quarter growth narrowly beats expectations
China's economy grew by 6.7 percent in the second quarter over a year ago, slightly more than the 6.6 percent expected. Still, the numbers were no better than the first quarter, when the world's second largest economy expanded at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis. Also, private investment retreated in the second quarter. The data further eased fear that China was headed for a hard landing, but reinforced expectations of continuing weakness that could force the government to introduce more stimulus measures.
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