Reuters Business News

Cisco Systems Inc on Tuesday launched a $2.5 billion financing program that lets its customers defer 95% of payments until 2021, giving companies additional leeway at time when some are facing a cash crunch but also need more remote-work tools.

(This story had been refiled to add missing words in paragraph 16 of story first published April 9.)

U.S. stock index futures gained 1% on Tuesday on better-than-expected trade data from China and signs some economies were preparing to ease lockdowns, even as the first batch of earnings reports underlined the hit from the coronavirus outbreak.

Investors have been hoarding cash at a rate not seen since the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks of 2001, BofA's April fund manager survey showed, as the coronavirus roiled global financial markets.

JPMorgan Chase & Co's quarterly profit slumped by more than two-thirds as the coronavirus pandemic and record low oil prices forced the largest U.S. bank to boost reserves to protect it from a wave of potential loan defaults.

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday beat analysts' estimates for first-quarter profit on higher sales of its cancer drugs and consumer products including Tylenol, while slashing its full-year forecast due to the coronavirus shutdowns.

British clothing retailer Next hit a self-imposed daily limit within hours of re-opening its online business on Tuesday, indicating consumer demand during the coronavirus lockdown.

Barclays has halted new job cuts while the coronavirus crisis is ongoing, the bank said in an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The ten U.S. states coordinating plans separately from the White House to reopen businesses shut by the coronavirus are responsible for an outsized proportion of the U.S. economy.

Spanish authorities have requisitioned 2,000 antibody tests procured by wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa and intended to check whether employees have been infected with the coronavirus, a labour union spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

World stocks gained on Tuesday after Chinese trade data came in better than expected and some countries tried to restart their economy by partly lifting restrictions aimed at containing the coronavirus outbreak.

Charlie Straface, president of Norwegian aluminum maker Norsk Hydro's North American extrusion operations, convenes a coronavirus task force every other day to draw up cost-cutting measures to offset declining revenues and protect the unit's cash balance during the economic slump related to the outbreak.

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday, with investors apparently unconvinced that record supply cuts could soon balance markets pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic, though a predicted plunge in U.S. shale output provided some support.

SoftBank Group Corp's estimate it will post a record $13 billion full-year loss, dragged down by its spluttering $100 billion Vision Fund, has renewed attention on a planned asset sell-down aimed at raising cash and restoring confidence.

European low cost airline Wizz Air is not looking to defer any of the Airbus narrowbody planes it has on order even though it does not expect the market to grow again until 2022, its chief executive said.

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday cut its 2020 adjusted profit forecast, as the coronavirus outbreak causes uncertainty across global markets.

Investors have been hoarding cash at a rate not seen since the immediate aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center in Sept 2001, BofA's April fund manager survey showed, as the coronavirus roiled global financial markets.

Turkish Airlines has extended the cancellation of international flights to May 20 from May 1 over the coronavirus outbreak, the airline said on Tuesday, adding that domestic flights would remain suspended until April 20.

U.S. stock index futures gained on Tuesday as better-than-expected trade data from China and signs some economies might be preparing to ease sweeping lockdowns lifted the mood ahead of the first batch of quarterly earnings reports.

British American Tobacco (BAT) is the subject of a U.S. criminal investigation over suspected sanctions-busting, The Times reported https://bit.ly/2ydR5Wm on Tuesday, sending the company's shares down more than 5%.