10 things you need to know before European markets open
Hong Kong wants to raise the limit on how much cash Chinese investors can funnel into HK stocks. The Hong Kong stock exchange expects to increase quotas for mainland China investors by more than 30%, its chief executive said, a day after heavy capital inflows from the mainland forced the city's central bank to sell Hong Kong dollars to defend its currency peg.
The Nikkei climbed past 20,000 for the first time in 15 years. The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei index on Friday briefly rose past the psychologically important 20,000 level last seen 15 years ago. It's currently up 0.19%, a little below 20,000.
Deutsche Bank is facing a $1.5 billion (£1.02 billion) Libor fine. According to sources that spoke to the Financial Times, Deutsche Bank is looking at a fine of $1.5 billion for alleged Libor-rigging, which would be the largest levied against any individual bank before.
UK industrial production is coming. We'll get an idea of the health of British industry at 9:30 a.m. London time (4:30 a.m. ET). Analysts are expecting a 0.3% increase in production month-on-month from January to February, but only a 0.4% increase year-on-year.
A poll suggests the Scottish Nationalists may win 53 of 59 Scottish seats. The Scottish National Party may win 53 out of 59 Scottish seats in the British parliament, according to calculations made by The Times newspaper based on a YouGov poll showing an increase in support for the nationalists ahead of the May 7 election.
Chinese inflation stayed flat in March. China's consumer inflation stayed flat at 1.4 percent in March, while producer prices fell slightly less than projected, official data showed on Friday, keeping pressure on profit margins at Chinese companies as Beijing struggles to stimulate growth.
General Electric is reportedly selling tens of billions of dollars of real estate. General Electric is nearing a deal to sell practically all of its $30 billion (£20.39 billion) real estate assets to a consortium led by Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo & Co, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Hillary Clinton will announce her Presidential campaign this weekend. A source with knowledge of Hillary Clinton's plans has confirmed that she will officially announce her 2016 presidential bid on Saturday or Sunday. This will be imminently followed by campaign travel.
South Korea and Japan are resuming security talks after a five year break. Senior officials of South Korea and Japan will resume security talks next week after more than five years, with the hope of normalising dialogue despite recent diplomatic spats.
The US may supply India with state of the art aircraft carrier technology. India's newest aircraft carrier could be equipped with state-of-the-art American technology. Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall, who also oversees US-India defence trade, told Reuters on April 3rd that he was optimistic about the possible sale of the latest US carrier equipment to New Delhi.