Asian stock markets were mixed Monday as investors looked ahead to U.S.-Chinese trade talks and the Federal Reserve's update on its U.S. interest rate outlook.

Finance Minister Taro Aso told U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday that Japan opposes linking trade and currency policy, countering Mnuchin's insistence that a provision preventing currency devaluations be included in a trade agreement with Japan.

U.S. stock indexes finished mostly lower Thursday as disappointing earnings reports from several industrial sector companies weighed on the market, offsetting strong results from Facebook, Microsoft and others.

Nomura Holdings Inc. said Thursday it incurred a group net loss of 100.44 billion yen ($897 million) in the year ended March, its first red ink in 10 years, dragged down by sluggish retail and wholesale revenues.

SoftBank Corp. will team up with Google LLC parent Alphabet Inc. to set up airborne mobile phone base stations in the stratosphere, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.SoftBank and Alphabet will launch the airborne base stations to cover wider areas for next-generation 5G wireless services, the sources said.

The S&P 500 hit an all-time high Tuesday, marking the stock market's complete recovery from a nosedive at the end of last year.

Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder of SoftBank Group Corp, made a huge personal bet on bitcoin just as prices for the digital currency peaked, losing more than $130 million when he sold out, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, quoting people familiar with the matter.

Asian markets were mostly higher Monday on signs that the U.S. and China were closing in on a trade deal after months of negotiations.

The recent revelation that National Rifle Association representatives had met with Australian politicians to discuss talking points after a mass shooting generated outrage from various politicians.

The South Korean government said Friday it will maintain the current import ban on fishery products from Japan's Fukushima Prefecture and surrounding areas after winning a World Trade Organization appeal overnight.

A language professor has given a Hawaiian name -- Powehi -- to the black hole depicted in an image produced in a landmark experiment.

Disney raised the curtain on a hotly anticipated video steaming service that's aiming to topple industry pioneer Netflix, once a valuable ally of the Magic Kingdom.