At least 84 people, including two Americans, watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city of Nice were killed, when a suspect drove a truck at high speed into the crowds. Police shot and killed the driver, who's believed to be a French national of Tunisian descent. (CNBC)
French President Francois Hollande condemned the Nice massacre. "There's no denying the terrorist nature of this attack." He also said, "France as a whole is under threat of Islamic terrorism." Hollande plans to travel to Nice to support the coastal city. (USA Today)
By this morning, no terror group had claimed responsibility. France has been under a state of emergency since the Paris terror attacks in November. The state of emergency had been due to be lifted on July 26. But those plans have been put on hold. (NBC News)
In the wake of what he called the "horrible attack" in France, Donald Trump postponed his planned announcement this morning of his vice presidential running-mate pick, which is widely expected to be Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. (CNBC)
Meanwhile, Trump received a major victory as delegates overwhelmingly opposed last-ditch efforts to derail his nomination. A measure presented to the 112-member committee by anti-Trump delegates was soundly defeated. (NBC News)
Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last night, to discuss a proposed extensive military cooperation agreement on air attacks on the Islamic State terror group and the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria. (NY Times)
Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are out with earnings this morning, continuing the deluge of financial companies reporting quarterly results. Dow stock JPMorgan (JPM) Thursday beat on the top and bottom lines. (CNBC)
China's second-quarter gross domestic product narrowly beat estimates, with a 6.7 percent expansion year-over-year, as a string of stimulus measures there helped shore up demand. Chinese stocks were little changed Friday. (CNBC)
Messaging app Line made its debut today on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, up more than 31 percent, after its IPO Thursday on the NYSE gained 26 percent. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks were higher overnight, capping a 9 percent gain for the week. (CNBC)
Final bids for Yahoo's (YHOO) core internet business are due Monday. The bidders include Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), private equity firms, and Quicken Loans co-founder Dan Gilbert, who's getting financial backing from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. (BRK.A) (NY Times)
Buffett has donated another roughly $2.86 billion of his holdings in Berkshire stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four family charities, as part of his plan to give away nearly his entire fortune. (CNBC)
BY THE NUMBERS
If the S&P 500 were to post a record close this afternoon, it would be the first time that's happened in each day of a trading week since March 1998, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Oil prices were lower this morning, on continuing concerns about a persistent global glut of crude and refined products. Traders get a weekly look at U.S. production, when Baker Hughes releases its weekly rig count at 1 p.m. ET.
Today marks the heaviest day of the week for economic numbers, beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET, with the release of June retail sales and consumer price index, and the July Empire State regional business survey. June industrial production and capacity utilization is out at 9:15 a.m. ET. The University of Michigan's preliminary July consumer sentiment index and May business inventories come at 10 a.m. ET.
While digesting all those economic reports, investors also get commentary from three Fed officials today. San Francisco Fed President John Williams speaks at 1 p.m. ET, while Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard speak an hour later.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Tesla (TSLA) has been asked to brief the Senate Commerce Committee on the May 7 fatal crash involving its Autopilot software, following Consumer Reports urging the electric automaker to disable the feature. U.S. safety regulators are also investigating accident.
Xerox (XRX) has privately rejected R.R. Donnelley's (RRD) bid to merge with Xerox's document business, according to the Wall Street Journal. Xerox is planning to go ahead with its plan to split into two separate publicly traded companies.
AMC Entertainment (AMC) is said to be mulling an increased bid for Carmike Cinemas (CKEC). AMC's current offer is $1.1 billion. Earlier this week, AMC said it plans to buy London-based Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group, also for about $1.1 billion.
Zynga (ZNGA) has abandoned a plan to sell and then lease back its headquarters in San Francisco, according to the New York Post. The rent that the game developer would have to pay would be too high to justify the move.
WATERCOOLER
Round two of the British Open Championship was underway at Royal Troon in Scotland today. American golfer Phil Mickelson tied a major tournament record with a first round 63. Follow the latest on NBC Sports' live blog, and on TV on the Golf Channel and NBC.