The pound sinks on the shock UK election results but global stocks are unfazed

BY THE NUMBERS

U.S. stock futures and European equity markets were higher this morning, shrugging off the surprising failure of British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party to win a parliamentary majority in Thursday's election. The pound plummeted on concerns about a potential disruption to Brexit negotiations. (CNBC)

May will seek permission from the Queen to form a new government today, indicating she aims to continue as party leader and prime minister despite calls for her to resign from rival Jeremy Corbyn. The opposition Labour Party, led by Corbyn, saw gains across the U.K. (CNBC)

Despite the political uncertainty in Britain and in the U.S. after the testimony of fired FBI director James Comey, the Dow and S&P 500 were only fractions below their record highs. The Nasdaq closed at an all-time high on Thursday. Investors get April wholesale trade at 10 a.m. ET. (CNBC)

America's small-business owners are highly confident about their prospects for the next year and optimistic about the state of the U.S. economy, according to the first-ever CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey. Taxes are their No. 1 concern.

IN THE NEWS TODAY

President Donald Trump, in his first tweet since the Comey testimony, said this morning: "Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication" He also said, "Wow, Comey is a leaker." Trump holds a news conference this afternoon. (Reuters)

Trump son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner is expected to meet later this month with staff from the Senate Intelligence Committee, the same committee that heard explosive testimony from Comey who said he felt ordered by Trump to drop an investigation. (NBC News & CNBC)

In the closed-door session that followed the public hearing, Comey reportedly told lawmakers about a possible third interaction between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Russian officials. The Justice Department said no such meeting ever took place. (NBC News)

Amid a litany of accusations about Uber's so-called "tech bro culture," a 2013 email, in which the ride-hailing service CEO Travis Kalanick sent guidelines to his staff in case they decided to have sex at a company outing in Miami, has surfaced. (Recode)

Japanese tech giant SoftBank has agreed to buy Boston Dynamics, a company that makes humanoid robots, from Alphabet (GOOGL). SoftBank is also acquiring Schaft, another Alphabet robotics company. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. (Reuters)

Apple (AAPL) has quietly scooped up Dr. Sumbul Desai, the executive director of Stanford Medicine's center for digital health, who led a groundbreaking telemedicine project there and has been overseeing a project to promote health uses for the Apple Watch. (CNBC)

Yahoo (YHOO) expects to close next week its deal to sell its core internet business to Verizon (VZ). Yahoo shareholders voted to approve the transaction late Thursday after delays as the companies assessed the fallout from two data breaches that Yahoo disclosed last year. (Reuters)

The winning bid for a private lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett may top several million dollars in an online auction to benefit a California homeless charity that wraps up tonight. (AP)

STOCKS TO WATCH

Cloudera (CLDR) was sharply lower in the premarket after its first quarterly report as a public company. Earnings and revenue topped expectations. But the data-software firm's operating expenses more than tripled, and its sales and marketing bills doubled.

Endo (ENDP) was also tanking in premarket trading after the FDA instructed the drugmaker to remove pain reliever Opana ER from the market. This is the first time the agency has asked a company to pull an opioid medication from the market.

Digital Realty Trust (DLR) has agreed to buy fellow data center operator DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT) for an enterprise value of about $7.6 billion.

Hudson's Bay (HBC-CA) posted a wider-than-expected loss and revenue that was also worse than forecasts. The owner of Saks Fifth Avenue announced it's cutting about 2,000 jobs across North America in a major restructuring effort.

Ford (F) is offering buyout packages to about 15,000 workers in North America and Asia as the automaker looks to cut costs. The offers aim to trim about 1,400 employees from the firm's global headcount.

WATERCOOLER

Three years after boycotting Spotify, Taylor Swift is once again making her music available on the streaming platform. Fans rejoiced. But critics pointed out Swift's move coincided with the release of nemesis Katy Perry's fifth album. (Daily Mail)