Reuters Business News

Major U.S. airlines were urging Treasury officials and the federal government's outside advisers on Saturday to scrap or revise a proposal that would make part of the $25 billion earmarked by Congress to help keep workers on the payroll repayable in the form of low-cost loans.

The biggest supply cut ever contemplated by the world's top oil producers is hanging in the balance as a refusal by Mexico's leftist leader to imperil his plans to rebuild state oil company Pemex has angered the Saudi prince who helped craft the deal.

JPMorgan Chase & Co , the country's largest lender by assets, is raising borrowing standards this week for most new home loans as the bank moves to mitigate lending risk stemming from the novel coronavirus disruption.

Republican U.S. senators from oil states who recently introduced legislation to remove American troops from Saudi Arabia said on Saturday they had spoken with three officials from the kingdom and urged them to take concrete action to cut crude output.

As U.S. authorities ordered shutdowns of non-essential businesses to fight coronavirus, retailer Nordstrom Inc closed hundreds of stores and gave in-store workers three weeks’ pay, calling their safety its top priority.

Air France KLM has requested several billion euros of emergency funds from the French state while it negotiates a loan package from banks, which would be guaranteed by France and the Netherlands, French business daily Les Echos reported.

Hackers have accessed the mailboxes of some employees at Italian state-owned bank Monte dei Paschi ‹BMPS.MI› and sent emails to clients, according to a notice to customers seen by Reuters.

The European Commission has imposed provisional anti-dumping duties on some stainless steel products from China, Indonesia and Taiwan, according to the official EU journal, nearly eight months after launching a probe into low-price imports.

Siemens will not cut its workforce because of the economic downturn triggered by the new coronavirus, Chief Executive Joe Kaeser said, although short-time working measures could be extended in Germany.

Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google said on Friday that they will work together to create contact tracing technology that aims to slow the spread of the coronavirus by allowing users to opt into logging other phones they have been near.

U.S. aero parts maker Triumph Group Inc said it was furloughing about 2,300 employees across its U.S. and European plants for two to four weeks to cut capacity linked to Boeing commercial aircraft programs amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Honeywell International Inc said on Friday it had renewed a revolving credit agreement for $1.5 billion, to be used for general corporate purposes when needed.

Boeing Co has hired investment banks Lazard and Evercore Inc to assess potential U.S. government assistance or private sector loans, a person briefed on the matter confirmed on Friday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told major airlines on Friday he wants them to repay some of the $25 billion in cash grants the U.S. Congress approved last month to cover payroll costs as airlines weather an unprecedented crisis due to the coronavirus, three industry officials briefed on the matter told Reuters.

The United States has approved 661,000 loans to small businesses totaling $168 billion under a program to address the fallout from the novel coronavirus epidemic, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday.

Top oil nations struggled to finalise record output cuts at G20 talks on Friday to boost prices slammed by the coronavirus crisis, as Saudi Arabia clashed with Mexico despite U.S. President Donald Trump's mediation offer.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Russian President Vladimir Putin reviewed in a telephone conversation on Friday the efforts to achieve stability of energy markets to support the growth of the global economy, Saudi state news agency (SPA) reported.

Saudi Arabia and other oil producers in the OPEC+ group pushed back on Friday on a Mexican plan to cut less than requested under plans for global supply curbs, two sources from the OPEC+ group said on Friday.

Honeywell International Inc said on Friday it had entered into a $1.5 billion loan agreement to be used for general corporate purposes.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would help Mexico contribute to global oil output reductions, in a surprise move that could break an impasse among the world's major oil producers over cutbacks aimed at stabilizing crude prices.