Reuters

Boeing Co is leaning toward a temporary work stoppage at its twin-aisle jetliner factories due to the spread of coronavirus, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, echoing a similar move by European rival Airbus SE .

Asian shares staged a rare rally on Friday as Wall Street eked out gains, bonds rallied and oil boasted its biggest bounce on record, though the panicked rush into U.S. dollars suggested the crisis was far from done.

Latin America's major airlines sharply curtailed international flights on Thursday because of the coronavirus outbreak as Panama and Colombia imposed month-long travel bans and the largest carrier cut the salaries of 43,000 employees.

U.S crude oil prices edged higher on Friday, extending gains after a 24% jump the previous day, buoyed by hints from U.S. President Donald Trump he may intervene in the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia at an "appropriate time."

Big-box retailer Walmart Inc said on Thursday it would hire more than 150,000 hourly workers in the United States, citing a jump in shoppers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Engineer Anthony Levandowski, known for advancing self-driving car technology in the last decade, agreed to plead guilty on Thursday to taking sensitive documents from his former employer Google before joining rival Uber Technologies Inc.

President Donald Trump on Thursday opened the door to a radical shift in the U.S. government's relationship to private industry as the coronavirus outbreak upends the nation's economy, saying he would back the government taking stakes in certain companies.

The world's wealthiest nations poured unprecedented aid into the traumatized global economy on Thursday as coronavirus cases ballooned in the current epicentre Europe even as they waned at the pandemic's point of origin, China.

The outbreak of disease caused by the new coronavirus has raised questions about a phenomenon known as "herd immunity" and whether it might play a role in how the pandemic progresses.

China's aviation regulator has asked airlines to cut international flights and ordered some Beijing ones to be rerouted, as the country grapples with a rising number of imported coronavirus cases, especially in the capital.

Walt Disney Co , JPMorgan Chase & Co and United Parcel Service Inc were among seven major U.S. companies that accepted a big rise in their borrowing costs to issue bonds on Thursday, as the coronavirus outbreak roiled credit markets.

Asian shares sought a reprieve on Friday as Wall Street eked out gains, bonds rallied and oil boasted its biggest bounce on record, though a panicked rush into U.S. dollars suggested the crisis was far from done.

Luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover said late on Thursday it would temporarily suspend production at its UK manufacturing facilities from next week to curb the coronavirus' spread.

Colombia will block entry to everyone traveling from abroad from midnight on Monday in an effort to control the spread of coronavirus, President Ivan Duque said on Thursday.

Confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil surged past 600 on Thursday, more than doubling in two days, as a diplomatic spat over the disease's origins between President Jair Bolsonaro's son and the Chinese ambassador threatened relations with Brazil's top trading partner.

From Brazil to Norway, policymakers are leaping to defend currencies against the onslaught of the dollar which scaled three-year peaks on Thursday, raising speculation that a joint move by the world's biggest central banks may be in the offing.

Bentley will stop car production at its British factory from the end of Friday for four weeks over the coronavirus outbreak, one of the final automakers in Britain to announce such plans.

Shattered airlines were left counting the cost of government support as politicians in the United States and New Zealand set out conditions for bailouts needed to absorb the shock of coronavirus.

On St. Patrick's Day last year, Amy and Chris Hillyard marked the 30th anniversary of Farley's, their pair of cafes in San Francisco and Oakland, California, with live bagpipes and noisy crowds.

By Barbara Goldberg, Nate Raymond, Jessica Resnick-Ault and Lucy Nicholson