Reuters Business News

Harley-Davidson Inc slashed its dividend and halted share buybacks on Tuesday to boost its cash reserves as global lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic hit motorcycle demand in the first quarter.

U.S. consumer confidence tumbled to near a six-year low in April as tough measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus sharply disrupted economic activity and threw millions of Americans out of work.

Bayer's executive board won a clear vote of confidence from shareholders at Tuesday's annual general meeting, following a rebuke a year earlier.

Sweden's H&M is set to permanently close eight of its Italian stores, including two in the country's fashion capital Milan, as it pushes ahead with plans that pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq erased early gains on Tuesday as a plunge in consumer confidence underlined the extent of the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic, while healthcare stocks slumped after a sales warning from Merck.

Cheryl Wellman is one of thousands of small business owners anxious to see if she'll get a slice of the $310 billion in new emergency aid that was just released by Washington.

Amazon.com Inc may have violated safety measures and labor practices amid the coronavirus pandemic as it fired a warehouse protest leader last month, New York Attorney General Letitia James's office wrote in a letter to the company last week.

The U.S. Treasury Department will audit every loan for more than $2 million given under the Paycheck Protection Program for businesses hurt by the coronavirus fallout, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday.

Stock markets across the globe moved in and out of losses on Tuesday, whipsawed by Wall Street as mixed corporate earnings reports were not enough to offset a wild ride in oil prices.

Merck & Co Inc said on Tuesday it expects the coronavirus pandemic to reduce 2020 sales by more than $2 billion, and the U.S. drugmaker lowered its profit forecast as a big drop in doctors' office visits during the outbreak will take a hefty toll, sending its shares down more than 3%.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes rose on Tuesday after a string of upbeat quarterly reports took the edge off a plunge in consumer confidence, with investors turning hopeful of a pickup in business activity as economies slowly reopen.

PepsiCo warned on Tuesday surging demand for Lays and Doritos would only partially offset a hit to business in the second quarter from coronavirus lockdowns that have shuttered restaurants, theaters and sports venues key for its soda sales.

Wall Street's main indexes pared gains in early trading on Tuesday, as data showed U.S. consumer confidence tumbled in April as coronavirus-driven lockdowns sharply disrupted economic activity and left millions of Americans unemployed.

U.S. stock markets jumped at the open on Tuesday on another round of upbeat quarterly earnings reports, even as investors braced for a likely slide in consumer confidence data later in the day.

With the pandemic hobbling the meat-packing industry, Iowa farmer Al Van Beek had nowhere to ship his full-grown pigs to make room for the 7,500 piglets he expected from his breeding operation. The crisis forced a decision that still troubles him: He ordered his employees to give injections to the pregnant sows, one by one, that would cause them to abort their baby pigs.

Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday as optimism about the easing of coronavirus-related restrictions reassured markets, although traders remained cautious with storage capacities filling up fast and supply cuts not deep enough to counter falling demand.

Investors already know how the coronavirus outbreak has hurt Ford Motor Co's bottom line, so when the automaker releases first-quarter results on Tuesday they will focus on how and when Ford plans to restart North American operations.

Southwest Airlines Co on Tuesday posted a $94 million quarterly net loss, its first in nine years, and warned of drastic revenue drops ahead as it sought to raise another $2.6 billion to help weather the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. goods trade deficit widened in March amid a collapse in exports of motor vehicles and parts, but overall imports continued to decline likely as the novel coronavirus outbreak disrupted the flow of goods.

BP's first-quarter profit tumbled by two thirds and its debt climbed to its highest on record as the coronavirus crisis hammered oil demand, but the energy major kept its dividend despite warning of exceptional uncertainty.