Seizing on data showing a slowdown in annual consumer price inflation, U.S. equities pushed sharply higher in early trading Thursday.

The European Union on Wednesday unveiled a plan to provide Ukraine with around 18 billion euros (dollars) in financial aid next year in regular payments to help the war-ravaged country keep its energy and health care facilities running as well as to fund salaries and pension schemes.

The EU's executive branch, the European Commission, said the aid would involve loans with extremely favorable terms worth around 1.5 billion euros every month, possibly starting in January. Ukraine would not have to reimburse the funds for at least a decade and EU member countries would cover the interest costs.

Twitter's new owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold nearly $4 billion worth of Tesla shares, according to regulatory filings.

Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion, sold 19.5 million shares of the electric car company from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8, according to Tuesday's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Newly installed turbine compressors at a gas facility in central Syria will lead to a production increase that will help ease the war-torn country's electricity crisis, officials at the sprawling facility said Wednesday.

The Syrian Gas Co. facility in the central province of Homs suffered a series of attacks during Syria's 11-year conflict, including the kidnapping of staff, a suicide car bomb, barrages of rockets and strikes by drones that killed 11 people at the facility, according to Fadi Ibrahim, who heads the Syria South Gas plant.

Facebook parent Meta is laying off 11,000 people, about 13% of its workforce, as it contends with faltering revenue and broader tech industry woes, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter to employees Wednesday.

The job cuts come just a week after widespread layoffs at Twitter under its new owner, billionaire Elon Musk. There have been numerous job cuts at other tech companies that hired rapidly during the pandemic.

Long-hauled carrier Emirates is buying five Boeing 777 freighters in a deal valued at more than $1.7 billion, further expanding its cargo flight capacity, the two companies announced Tuesday.

Emirates previously announced a $1 billion investment to its cargo flights, including buying two new Boeing 777s and converting 10 Boeing 700-300ER passenger planes into freighter aircraft. The two new aircraft joined Emirates' fleet in 2022, while the conversions are scheduled to begin in 2023.

The Lebanese pound's market value reached again 39,000 against the dollar Tuesday after it had slightly recovered in the past few weeks.

Last month, the dollar exchange rate had dropped from LBP 40,600 to 36,000 on the black market, shortly after Central Bank Governor Riad Salamah said in a statement that the Central Bank would stop buying dollars on the Sayrafa platform.

The European Union threatened Monday to take retaliatory measures against the United States for electric car subsidies that favor domestic manufacturers.

Britain on Monday scrapped plans for a new "national flagship" to host trade events and promote its post-Brexit interests around the world, as the government cuts spending amid gloomy economic forecasts.

Global stock markets mostly rose Monday, extending last week's strong gains, while dollar dipped against key rivals ahead of this week's U.S. midterm elections.