A healthy crop of earnings helped European stocks bust out of a four-day losing streak on Thursday, Wall Street was watching Netflix and the dollar bounced after U.S. President Donald Trump quashed talk he was about to fire Fed head Jerome Powell.

Asian shares were mostly higher on Friday after Wall Street rose to records following better-than-expected updates on the economy and a mixed set of profit reports from big U.S. companies. Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged 0.

This past April, when President Donald Trump started flirting with the notion of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, stocks and the dollar tumbled because investors worried that even talking about such a move crossed a red line.

Consumers' inflation expectations, by some measures, are also the highest in decades. Inflation has been above the Fed's 2% target for over four years, and the prospect of a dovish Fed under the stewardship of a new Trump-friendly Chair could keep it that way.

Asian markets mostly rose, mirroring Wall Street's record highs fueled by strong economic data and earnings. Hong Kong and Shanghai saw gains, while T

Warren Buffett, the so-called Sage of Omaha, has been shedding his US bank holdings. At the start of the year, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold about $3.2bn (£2.4bn) of shares in American banks and financial companies.

PepsiCo jumped 7.5% after delivering revenue and profit that topped Wall Street’s expectations. The drink and snack giant also stood by its financial forecasts given in April, which projected lower full-year profit than previous forecasts due to increased costs from tariffs and a pullback in consumer spending.

Many on Wall Street have privately worried that political pressure will undermine the Federal Reserve’s credibility.

Some of the biggest names on Wall Street are getting louder about the importance of an independent Federal Reserve as the White House pressure on Jerome Powell intensifies. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon,

Kevin Hassett, Trump’s longest-serving economic adviser, is a leading contender to become the next Federal Reserve chairman, a position with significant influence over interest rates and the U.S. econ

The Nasdaq rose to a record high on Thursday, leading a cautious climb across Wall Street's major indexes, as strong economic data lifted spirits and airline stocks took off on United Airlines' results.