Reuters

Norway's parliament voted through a new company restructuring law on Friday that could help save Norwegian Air and many other companies from potential bankruptcy as a result of the restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Furniture brand IKEA's main retail vehicle said on Friday shoppers were returning quickly to its shopping centres after it reopened three in China last week, and one in Germany this week - its first four to open after closures due to the coronavirus.

Oil prices rose on Friday but headed for their third weekly loss as production shutdowns failed to keep pace with sliding demand due to the coronavirus crisis.

U.S. stock index futures gained on Friday with bargain hunters returning at the end of a tumultuous week marked by a record collapse in oil prices, a mixed bag of quarterly earnings and growing fears of a severe economic slump.

After another disappointing EU summit, the European Central Bank finds itself in a familiar position as the leading saviour of the euro, once again being called upon to push out its boundaries while politicians bicker.

Nestle Chief Executive Mark Schneider warned on Friday against reading too much into the company's first-quarter results, which marked its best quarterly growth for nearly five years as customers stockpiled food to deal with coronavirus shutdowns.

Credit card issuer American Express Co posted a 76% drop in quarterly profit on Friday, as it set aside $1.7 billion to brace itself against potential non-payments due to a wave of coronavirus-led layoffs.

Verizon Communications Inc withdrew its full-year revenue outlook on Friday as it lost 68,000 phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill in the first quarter amid lockdowns that closed 70% of its stores.

HSBC will press ahead with plans to shift capital from underperforming businesses, cut costs and strip out layers of management, despite problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Singapore Telecommunications' (Singtel) subsidiaries have secured close to $3 billion in bank credit facilities, it said on Friday.

Verizon Communications Inc lost 68,000 phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill in the first quarter, as people stayed indoors due to lockdowns to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

Facebook's $5.7 billion investment in Reliance promises to be the biggest headache yet for Paytm, a SoftBank-backed pioneer in India's digital payments market but which has been losing ground to rivals with deeper pockets.

Global shares fell on Friday, hit by delays to an agreement on divisive details of the European Union's stimulus package and doubts about progress in the development of drugs to treat COVID-19.

As the coronavirus crisis gripped the U.S. economy and Congress approved hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency small business loans, Utah builder Clark Ivory knew what to tell his local colleagues.

HSBC will press on with plans to reallocate capital from underperforming businesses, cut costs and strip out layers of management, its Chief Executive Noel Quinn said, despite problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

A French court on Friday rejected a request from the CGT union that a Carrefour hypermarket near Lille be forced to close aisles selling non-esssential products and it ordered the union to pay 1,000 euros compensation to the supermarket group.

China's retail investors take punts on everything from mainstream stocks to niche commodities and derivatives, and many were badly burned this week by exposure to U.S. oil contracts which collapsed below zero for the first time, wiping out several small accounts.

Global oil supplies may be 6% less than expected by 2030 because of delays to investments by energy companies in response to falling crude prices due to the coronavirus crisis, data from energy analysts at Rystad showed.

Credit card issuer American Express Co posted a 76% drop in first-quarter profit on Friday, as it set aside $2.6 billion to cover potential losses stemming from the coronavirus outbreak.

Thailand’s budget and full-service carriers are seeking soft-loans worth 25 billion baht ($770.65 million) from the government to support their businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak, an airline executive said on Friday.