access to water is also a problem for businesses, which may find themselves in ever greater competition for a finite resource as growing populations increasingly drain reservoirs and rivers.

This is a seismic shift from years past, when "uncertainties" about climate change were the party line for oil companies. Humanity's role in rising temperatures has now been established in court, and future legal wrangling will have to build on this foundation.

Hopes that behind-the-scenes talks between the U.S. and China will prevent a looming trade war supported global markets, including crude oil futures.

The way people move around towns and cities is changing, with electric and hybrid vehicles becoming increasingly common.

U.S. home sales surged in February but a chronic shortage of houses on the market remains an obstacle heading into the spring selling season.

Companies you could buy with Facebook's market cap Companies you could buy with Facebook's market cap 21 Hours Ago | 02:07 Facebook shares may have taken a big hit as questions mount over how the social network treats user data, but the company still has a stock market value of over half a trillion dollars, more than Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and McDonald's combined.

Also looming over oil markets has been surging U.S. crude oil production, which has risen by more than a fifth since mid-2016, to 10.38 million barrels per day (bpd), pushing it past top exporter Saudi Arabia.

Powell's public comments and Reuters conversations with his Fed colleagues since January, when he was confirmed as chairman, suggest such fears are overblown: Powell, the consensus-builder, may make some tweaks to reflect changing economic conditions but is as committed to gradual, moderate rate increases as his predecessor Janet Yellen who adopted that approach.

Oil prices were set to fall this week, with both benchmarks dropping slightly on Friday, on concerns among investors about rising supply from the U.S. and other nations threatening to undermine efforts by OPEC and other producers to tighten the market.

Newly listed stocks on the mainland traded lower, with names like China Express Airlines down 9.35 percent. The dive in share prices came after a Xinhua report cited regulators saying such stocks were vulnerable to near-term speculation, Reuters said.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted industrial output growth would dip marginally to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent in December, pressured by tough winter pollution restrictions.

Bitcoin traded lower, remaining below the psychologically key $10,000 level after news of increased regulatory scrutiny of cryptocurrency exchanges.

Japan's economy expanded at an annualised rate of 1.6 percent in the final three months of 2017, revised up from a preliminary estimate of 0.5 percent growth due to an upward revision to capital expenditure, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday.

Rising interest rates will soon have a devastating effect on our economy, mostly because of a single factor that hardly anyone is talking about.

Ripple climbed as investors speculated leading U.S. cryptocurrency marketplace Coinbase will add the digital currency to its platform.

Investors worried about a potential trade war should look at buying shares of Boeing and Raytheon, among other companies, as their trade war exposure is low, according to Fundstrat Global Advisors' Tom Lee.

Despite rising interest rates, Americans are borrowing more than ever to buy new and used vehicles.