Here’s a daily overview of some key companies and economic developments that the Yahoo Finance UK team is monitoring in Europe and abroad:

Toyota teams up with SoftBank

Toyota (TM) and SoftBank announced a new partnership on Thursday to develop self-driving car services. They have a vision of creating self-driving hospital shuttles and meal deliveries, among other mobility services.

The partnership between Japan’s top automaker and one of the world’s most influential tech giant shows that even big well-funded players fear being left behind in the race to develop autonomous and connected cars.

“SoftBank alone and automakers alone can’t do everything,” said Junichi Miyakawa, chief technology officer at SoftBank, who will be CEO of the new joint company, Monet Technologies. “We want to work to help people with limited access to transportation.”

EU investigating Facebook hack

Officials in the European Union are launching a formal investigation into a recent Facebook hacking incident. The Data Protection Commission in Ireland is leading the investigation to see if Facebook (FB) did not comply with the EU’s new data privacy rules, called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

If Facebook was found to have broken the GDPR rules and not taken appropriate steps to safeguard user data, it could face a penalty of up to $1.6nn. That’s equivalent to 4% of its global annual revenue.

Facebook said in late September that hackers gained login details for about 50 millions accounts. It’s estimated that less than 10% of compromised accounts belonged to Europeans, according to the Data Protection Commission.

US dollar strengthens while others suffer

As currency traders bid up the US dollar to a six-week high, a range of international currencies are suffering. The euro weakened by about 1% over the course of 24 hours before steadying a bit. The Russian ruble slipped on Thursday, down by another 0.5% against the dollar. And the Indian rupee plumbed record lows against the dollar.

The US dollar has been rising based on strong economic data.

Ted Baker tanks

Shares in clothing retailer Ted Baker (TED.L) dropped by about 10% in London on Thursday as investors reacted to the company’s new half-year results. Traders focused on founder Ray Kelvin warning about a “challenging” business environment for the second half of the fiscal year. It was one of the worst performing stocks on the FTSE 250 index, which tracks mid-sized companies traded in London.

Ted Baker has 544 stores around the world, with over 200 in the UK. It has more than 100 stores in Europe and about 130 stores in North America.

With files from Reuters