Reuters Business News

A group of state attorneys general led by Texas are likely to file an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's Google and are working on potential litigation for later this year, a person familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, which unveiled a $12 billion investment plan in Arizona on Friday, has not been given any assurances that it will be granted a license to allow it to sell U.S. technology to China's Huawei, a senior U.S. official said.

The Trump administration on Friday moved to block global chip supplies to blacklisted telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies, spurring fears of Chinese retaliation and hammering shares of U.S. producers of chipmaking equipment.

U.S. employers have cooled to the idea of testing workers for possible immunity to the coronavirus as they prepare to reopen factories and other workplaces.

Investors are bracing for more turbulence in U.S. stocks, as some states prepare to reopen their economies and global trade tensions rise.

Wall Street's three major indexes closed higher after swinging between gains and losses on Friday as investors weighed worries about Sino-U.S. trade relations and weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data against growing optimism that easing coronavirus restrictions would boost activity this month.

The U.S.-China "Phase 1" trade deal reached in January is not falling apart and the two countries are still working to implement it, the White House's top economic adviser said on Friday, but President Donald Trump added that he was not "thrilled" with the agreement.

The United States has not given any assurances to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd that it will grant it a license so it can sell U.S. technology to China's Huawei, which Washington has blacklisted, Keith Krach, Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment at the State Department said on Friday.

U.S. stocks gyrated on Friday before ending slightly higher, as investors worried about increased China-U.S. trade hostilities and disappointing retail sales figures, while signs of a pick-up in crude demand boosted oil prices.

The S&P 500 closed higher after swinging between gains and losses on Friday as investors weighed worries about Sino-U.S. trade relations and weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data against growing optimism that easing coronavirus restrictions would boost activity this month.

The S&P 500 zig-zagged on both sides of unchanged on Friday as investors weighed worries about Sino-U.S. trade relations and weaker-than-expected retail sales data against optimism over the reopening of the U.S. economy after coronavirus lockdowns.

Businesses are urging U.S. lawmakers to shield companies from what they fear could be a flood of lawsuits by workers and consumers blaming employers for exposing them to the new coronavirus.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones indexes fell on Friday, but were well off their session lows, amid signs of deteriorating Sino-U.S. trade relations and growing evidence of the economic slump due to the coronavirus pandemic.

South African Airways (SAA) has spent just under 10 billion rand ($540 million) since it entered a form of bankruptcy protection, business rescue practitioners said on Friday as they flagged a structured wind-down process as their preferred option for the carrier.

Layoffs in the United States jumped to a record high in March, while the number of people voluntarily quitting their jobs dropped to a 4-1/2-year low as the novel coronavirus crisis rapidly changed labor market dynamics.

Shares in Wirecard fell to more than two-year lows on Friday after a Dubai-based business partner closed its doors even as the German payments company played down the impact on operations.

Air France is putting its grounded pilots through their paces in the flight simulator as the airline prepares to restore flights to dozens of destinations that had been suspended under coronavirus lockdown measures.

The Trump administration on Friday moved to block global chip supplies to blacklisted telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL], spurring fears of Chinese retaliation and hammering shares of U.S. producers of chipmaking equipment.

U.S. stocks sank on Friday after data showed a surprisingly sharp dive in retail sales and as investors worried about increased Sino-U.S. trade hostilities, while signs of a pick-up in crude demand boosted oil prices.

United Airlines Holdings Inc has told staff that it only has work for about 3,000 of its about 25,000 flight attendants in June, sources said, and warned of job losses if demand does not recover by the time government payroll aid expires in the fall.