Business & Finance News
Crude futures surged for a second day on Friday, with benchmark Brent up 11% on hopes that a global deal to cut crude supply worldwide will emerge early next week.
Global stock markets sank on Friday following more signs that the COVID-19 pandemic would take a massive toll on economic growth, while oil prices continued to rally on hopes of a cut to global supply.
Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Friday as the longest period of employment growth on record in the United States came to an abrupt end, with data showing that hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs last month due to the coronavirus.
Aeroplanes with a total insured value of more than $160 billion are grounded around the world, presenting risks for insurers, a report said on Friday.
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp said on Friday it hired about 1,000 employees in the last two weeks and increased payments to suppliers to counter the impact from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Trump administration’s bailout program for small and mid-sized businesses, which aims to keep companies that employ 60 million Americans afloat despite widespread shutdowns related to the new coronavirus, launched on Friday.
3M Co said on Friday it would increase the production of respirators and import more masks into the United States, after President Donald Trump invoked a law to help ease a shortage of essential items needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Wall Street dipped on Friday as the novel coronavirus abruptly ended the longest spell of U.S. employment growth on record, but declines were limited by a surprise expansion in the U.S. services sector.
Top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said on Friday that there would be big demand for a small-business loan program but that the banks were prepared for it despite concerns that they would be overwhelmed by the need created by an economic shutdown aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
Airbus is studying a sharp cut in output of its top-selling A320 plane series amid an industry-wide slowdown triggered by the coronavirus crisis, sources familiar with the matter said.
U.S. services sector activity slowed to a more than 3-1/2-year low in March, with industries reporting a moderation in new orders and decline in employment amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has brought the country to sudden stop.
Benchmark Brent crude oil futures rose as high as $33.37 a barrel on Friday on rising hopes of a new global deal to cut global crude supply.
Deep oil output cuts by OPEC and other producing nations would not be enough to prevent a huge build in global crude inventories in the second quarter as measures to contain the coronavirus lead to “unprecedented” demand loss, the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said.
OPEC and allies are working on a deal for an unprecedented production cut equivalent to around 10% of global supply, an OPEC source said after U.S. President Donald Trump called on oil nations to stop the oil rout caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ford Motor Co said on Friday Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett’s total compensation fell to $17.4 million in 2019 from $17.8 million in 2018.
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