Reuters Business News

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday that the United States has legal restrictions on oil output cuts, but the country should be flexible with them, RIA news agency reported.

Kraft Heinz Co has moved to halt production at three different plants because of a decline in demand stemming from the new coronavirus outbreak, its Chief Executive Miguel Patricio on Friday said in a video presentation hosted by Brazilian retail brokerage XP Inc .

U.S. employment numbers will get worse amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak before getting better, Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

U.S. passenger and cargo carriers and airport contractors faced a deadline of 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) on Friday to tap the federal government for up to $32 billion in payroll grants to keep workers employed while they ride out the economic toll of the coronavirus on their business.

Wall Street's main indexes fell on Friday as the coronavirus abruptly ended a record U.S. job growth streak of 113 months, leaving little doubt that the economy is in a recession.

American Airlines, the largest U.S. airline, confirmed Friday it has applied to the U.S. Treasury for a chunk of the $25 billion payroll assistance grants approved by Congress last week.

Global currency fund managers racked up gains in the first quarter as they benefited from the extreme volatility that the coronavirus pandemic has stoked across financial markets.

Amazon.com Inc is postponing its major summer shopping event Prime Day until at least August and expects a potential $100-million hit from excess devices it may now have to sell at a discount, according to internal meeting notes seen by Reuters.

JPMorgan Chase & Co , the largest U.S. lender by assets, started accepting at Friday midday applications for loans from the federal government's paycheck protection program, according to a post on the bank's website.

President Donald Trump hailed one of the country's largest banks, as well as many small lenders, for making small business emergency loans on the first day of a new U.S. coronavirus economic relief program.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had two previously undisclosed phone calls with U.S. President Trump in February, calendars released on Friday show, including a brief call during the last week of the month when it was becoming clearer that the coronavirus would likely have more than a transitory effect on the U.S. economy.

OPEC and its allies are working on a deal for an unprecedented oil production cut equivalent to around 10% of global supply, an OPEC source said, after the U.S. president called on producers to stop the market rout caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Deep output cuts by OPEC and other oil producing nations will not prevent a huge build up of crude, the head of the IEA said on Friday, urging the world's richest economies to discuss broader ways to stabilise oil markets.

Constellation Brands Inc , the U.S. distributor of Corona beer, said on Friday its Mexican breweries were still operational and supply to the United States was intact even as rivals suspended production due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Neiman Marcus Group is stepping up preparations to seek bankruptcy protection, after the coronavirus pandemic forced the debt-laden U.S. luxury department store chain to close its stores, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

President Donald Trump slammed 3M Co in a tweet late on Thursday after earlier announcing he was invoking the Defense Production Act to get the company to produce face masks.

3M Co said on Friday it would make more face masks for the United States to fight the coronavirus pandemic, but warned of the "humanitarian implications" of limiting supply to other countries as President Donald Trump directed.

The U.S. economy shed 701,000 jobs in March, abruptly ending a historic 113 straight months of employment growth as stringent measures to control the novel coronavirus outbreak shuttered businesses and factories, confirming a recession is underway.

Glenview Capital Management, the hedge fund run by Larry Robbins, has lost roughly 30% in the first three months of 2020 as the spread of the new coronavirus hurt the healthcare facilities and hospital operators the firm has invested in.

Cisco Systems Inc's video-conferencing app Webex registered a record 324 million attendees in March, with usage more than doubling in the Americas, as the coronavirus-led lockdowns forced businesses to have employees work from home.