Reuters Business News

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday said he approved the creation of a new primary dealer credit facility to ease credit market disruptions caused by the coronavirus epidemic, resurrecting the second 2008 financial crisis-era backstop in less than a day.

Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc Tuesday began suspending shared rides on their ride-hailing platforms in the United States and Canada to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Than U.S. President Donald Trump's administration pushed lawmakers to send money directly to Americans to counter the economic toll of the coronavirus outbreak, as the Senate weighed a multibillion-dollar emergency bill passed by the House of Representatives.

Miners shuttered or wound down operations in Peru on Tuesday and were girding for extended supply chain disruptions in neighboring Chile as governments tightened restrictions to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the resource-rich region.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the CEOs of U.S. airlines on Tuesday that Democrats agree on the need for "big immediate action" to boost the sagging U.S. aviation industry but have not reached agreement on what a bailout would look like.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday acted to ensure companies can continue paying workers and buying supplies through the coronavirus epidemic, as top officials scrambled through the day to broaden efforts to blunt the economic fallout from the health crisis.

The U.S. Federal Reserve moved again late on Tuesday to broaden the flow of credit in response to the coronavirus epidemic, saying it would offer short-term loans to the two dozen Wall Street primary dealers who are important conduits for the sale of a broad range of bonds and other financial assets.

Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd said on Wednesday it would suspend all international flying from March 30 to June 14 and cut its domestic capacity in half because of government travel restrictions and lower demand because of the coronavirus.

As the coronavirus outbreak and global growth worries cause global stock markets to sink, stock exchanges are tweaking trading rules to protect their markets from intense volatility and speculative trading.

Impossible Foods is discussing a new credit line worth several hundred million dollars with its lenders, as the plant-based meat company braces for the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

SoftBank Group Corp is backing away from part of its planned bailout of WeWork, due to regulatory investigations of the office sharing company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd said on Wednesday it would suspend all international flying from March 30 to June 14 and cut its domestic capacity in half because of government travel restrictions and lower demand due to the coronavirus.

The S&P 500 rose 6% on Tuesday, recouping half of the previous session's historic sell-off, as the Federal Reserve and the White House took further steps to boost liquidity and stem damage from the coronavirus outbreak that has gripped the global economy.

Boeing Co is seeking "tens of billions of dollars" in U.S. government loan guarantees and other assistance as faces it a looming liquidity crunch from the massive coronavirus economic disruption impacting the entire aviation sector, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters.

U.S. package delivery company FedEx Corp suspended its 2020 profit outlook on Tuesday, citing the "significant impact" of coronavirus, and said it would cut costs due to the uncertainty wrought by the pandemic.

Airlines demanded urgent tax relief to avoid multiple bankruptcies as coronavirus disruption continued its spread across the global industry on Tuesday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's suggestion on Tuesday that the country's stock exchanges might shorten their trading hours did not go over well with investors reeling from Wall Street's recent plunge sparked by growing fears about the coronavirus.

Shutting down the U.S. stock market would be "exactly the wrong thing to do" by depriving businesses and investors of capital just when they need it most, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said on Tuesday, adding that the group also opposes any ban on short selling.

Crude oil prices settled below $30 a barrel on Tuesday as the coronavirus pandemic slowed economic growth and oil demand while Saudi Arabia and Russia kept up their battle for market share.

Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George said on Tuesday that the regional Fed bank continues to carry on with its key functions, and is ready to extend credit when needed through the U.S. central bank's emergency lending window.