Global stock markets mostly rose Friday at the end of a strong week for equities, with Frankfurt and Wall Street continuing a record-breaking run as investors set their sights on a huge US stimulus package.

Wall Street stocks added to records early Friday as markets undeterred by weak jobs data and disturbing U.S. coronavirus trends amid rising prospects for more government stimulus.

The United States lost 140,000 jobs in December as the worsening coronavirus pandemic undermined the economy's recovery and caused the first loss in employment since April.

The downbeat report released by the Labor Department on Friday came after months of steady gains in hiring were brought to a halt by the recent surge in infections, which saw the one-day death toll reach 4,000 as states scrambled to reimpose restrictions on businesses to again bring the virus under control.

The International Monetary Fund on Friday lowered its 2021 growth forecast for China to 7.9 percent, following a year of "significant human and economic costs" inflicted by the Covid-19 crisis.

Wall Street stocks were solidly higher early Thursday after Congress formally certified President-elect Joe Biden's election victory hours after a siege of the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.

The New York Stock Exchange reversed course again Wednesday saying it would delist three Chinese telecom equities from trading due to new U.S. government guidance.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrived in Sudan Wednesday for talks on future U.S. economic assistance following Khartoum's removal from Washington's state sponsors of terrorism blacklist.

Amazon on Tuesday announced it bought jets from a pair of airlines, bolstering its delivery network as online shopping booms and travel withers during the pandemic.

A disgruntled former employee went on a New Year's Eve rampage at a Mercedes plant in Spain, smashing up some 50 new people carriers with a stolen digger, police said Tuesday. 

UK ports on Monday sailed through the first working day since Britain left the EU's single market and customs union, with preparations for post-Brexit trade holding firm as traffic remained muted.