Following a choppy trading day on Wall Street, world stocks are heading into the red, with the Dow poised to record its third straight weekly decline. The dip comes ahead of major American and Chinese data releases, which may do little to settle investor nerves over the outlook for the world's two largest economies. U.S. April retail sales, producer price figures, and the consumer sentiment survey will be published in the next few hours, while Beijing will report monthly data for industrial output, retail sales and investment on Saturday.

Economy

Japanese stocks came under pressure overnight from fresh strength in the yen, as BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda warned the central bank will act "decisively" to achieve its 2% inflation target, and stressed it still has "ample" policy options available. Traders appear to be betting the BOJ will likely expand monetary stimulus in either June or July, with an eye on first-quarter GDP data and the outcome of this month's G7 summit.

Germany more than doubled its economic growth rate in the first quarter of 2016, as higher state and household spending offset a drag from foreign trade. The economy grew by 0.7% between January and March, after it expanded by 0.3% in the final three months of 2015. Barring any big upward surprises from Japan and Canada, which have yet to release first-quarter GDP numbers, this makes Germany the fastest-growing out of the seven leading industrialized nations.

A vote to leave the EU could have negative and substantial effects on the U.K. economy, cautions the IMF, adding its voice to a chorus of warnings on the potential costs of a Brexit ahead of a membership referendum in June. It would "precipitate a protracted period of heightened uncertainty, leading to financial market volatility and a hit to output," the fund declared, citing research showing the economy could be between 1%-9% smaller over the long term than if the U.K. remained a member.

"While I would not completely rule out the use of negative interest rates in some future very adverse scenario, policy makers would need to consider a wide range of issues before employing this tool in the U.S.," Fed Chair Janet Yellen emphasized in a letter to Congressman Brad Sherman. With central banks in Europe and Japan using negative rates to stimulate their economies, Yellen said the Fed is attempting to learn as much as it can from their experiences.

Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan concluded their highly anticipated meeting Thursday amid signals that the GOP will work to bring itself together following a fractious primary, but Ryan still held off on a Trump endorsement. "While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground," the two said in a joint statement. "We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there's a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall."

Stocks

Forget about building a car, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has decided to jump into the ride-sharing wars. The tech giant is investing $1B in Didi Chuxing (Private:DIDI), the largest taxi hailing app in China, joining other investors including Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY), and dealing a blow to Uber Technologies (Private:UBER). "We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market," Tim Cook told Reuters. The move also gives Apple a stake in two burgeoning tech waves - the sharing economy and auto technology - as the iPhone business that propelled it to record profitability shows signs of maturing.

Those concerns caused Apple shares to drop below $90 on Thursday for the first time since 2014, forcing the firm to relinquish its position as the world's largest company by market cap to Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL). Towards the end of the session, the iPhone maker's stock pared losses slightly, and the two tech giants are now tied for the crown with a market value $494B each. This year, Apple (AAPL) shares have cratered by 14%, more than double the loss for Alphabet stock.

Mark Zuckerberg plans to invite "leading conservatives and people from across the political spectrum" to discuss concerns about how Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) presents news, stating "every tool we build is designed to give more people a voice and bring our global community together." A leaked document by The Guardian yesterday suggested Facebook's news gathering is conducted via an algorithm, but the company then relies heavily on the intervention of a small editorial team to determine what makes its "trending module" headlines.

Alibaba and SoftBank are forming a joint venture to launch cloud-computing services in Japan. While financial terms weren't disclosed, SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBY) said in a release it will fund 60% of the endeavor. The undertaking isn't the first JV involving the two companies. Last year, SoftBank, Alibaba (BABA) and Taiwan's Foxconn Technology (OTC:FXCOF) announced the launch of a joint robotics unit.

Charter Communications' proposals to buy Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) and Bright House Networks has been approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, overcoming the last hurdle to complete the deals. The FCC valued the transaction for TWC at $78B and the purchase of Bright House at $10.4B. A consummated deal makes Charter (NASDAQ:CHTR) the second-biggest cable company in the U.S. (and third-largest pay-TV operation) with about 18.4M subscribers.

Looking to steer a big turnaround, Sharp (OTCPK:SHCAY) has named the vice-chairman of Taiwan's Foxconn (OTC:FXCOF) as its new chief executive. Tai Jeng-wu, a close aide of Foxconn's founder Terry Gou, assisted in the company's negotiations and eventual purchase of Sharp for $3.5B in March. With his new role, Tai will be the first outsider to run the century-old Japanese group and one of nine new board members.

Hospital stocks took a big hit on Thursday after bearish investors anticipated a potential softening of revenues following a legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act. A federal judge ruled that the Obama administration is unconstitutionally spending money to reimburse health insurers for the extra cost of providing coverage to low-income Americans without obtaining an appropriation from Congress. The decision adds to the uncertainty over Obamacare ahead of the Nov. 8 general election. Related tickers: CYH -10.8%; HUM -2.5%; HCA -3.2%; HLS -1.5%; KND -8.1%; LPNT -3.3%; THC -9.8%; SSY -1.5%.

European car sales rose 9% to 1.3M vehicles in April, the highest level since before the financial crisis. Overall group sales at Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY) turned positive for the first time since its massive diesel scandal, climbing 5.3%, while demand for its core brand was back to growth. However, the group's market share in the region slipped to 25.4% from 26.2%, as it continued to pay the price for its emissions crisis.

Honda swung to a quarterly loss as ballooning costs related to recalls of Takata (OTCPK:TKTDY)-made air bags outweighed strong car sales in the U.S. and China. For the three months ended March 31, Japan's third-largest automaker by sales posted a net loss of ¥93.4B ($856M), compared with a net profit of ¥81.9B in the same period a year ago. Honda (NYSE:HMC) also said it will recall an additional 21M vehicles.

Deutsche Bank -1.4% premarket on reports that the lender is considering cutting over 30,000 investment banking clients. Sources told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) is accelerating its restructuring plans, shedding these customers by the end of 2019.

Hackers have again gained access to the world's largest system for transferring funds among banks, a breach the network's operator said indicates a wide-ranging effort to penetrate the financial system. According to SWIFT, the malware attack targeted a commercial lender and managed to send messages using the bank's valid codes, following February's $81M cyber heist at the Bangladesh central bank.

Euronext CEO Stephane Boujnah has commented on the LSE (OTCPK:LDNXF)-Deutsche Boerse (OTCPK:DBOEY) merger deal, saying that large-scale transactions usually take longer than expected and never end as initially planned. The exchange is eyeing assets that could possibly come up for sale due to the "transformational" tie-up, and stated that other independent exchanges could consider strategic opportunities.

A unit of TerraForm Global (NASDAQ:GLBL) has 90 days to issue its delinquent annual report or it could face demands to pay off hundreds of millions in debt six years early, partly because bankrupt parent SunEdison (OTCPK:SUNEQ) hasn't filed its own financial statement. Holders of bonds issued by TerraForm Global Operating LLC sent a notice of default on the yieldco's 9.75% senior notes due in 2022, according to law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. The group represents more than 25% of aggregate principal of the notes.

About 88,200 gallons of oil have leaked from a Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) flow line into the Gulf of Mexico, about 90 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to the spill, saying the leak has been secured and cleanup crews would be dispatched. Shell has shut production at the four wells connected to its Brutus platform while the cause of the incident is investigated.

Three oil and gas bankruptcies this week - Chaparral Energy, Penn Virginia (NYSE:PVA) and Linn Energy (NASDAQ:LINE) - suggests that crude at $45 a barrel isn't even enough to rescue energy companies on the verge of collapse. According to law firm Haynes & Boone, 130 North American oil and gas producers and service companies have filed for bankruptcy since the start of 2015, owing almost $44B. More energy firms are also nearing default, including Breitburn Energy Partners (NASDAQ:BBEP) and SandRidge Energy (NYSE:SD).