Reuters Business News

The Trump administration is "looking at" investments in Chinese military companies by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), U.S. national security adviser Robert O'Brien said on Wednesday.

Warren Buffett plans to wait until around April 1 to decide whether the coronavirus pandemic will require changes to Berkshire Hathaway Inc's annual shareholder weekend a month later, Omaha, Nebraska's mayor Jean Stothert said.

President Donald Trump will meet with Wall Street executives on Wednesday to discuss the financial industry's response to the coronavirus and the toll it is taking on small businesses, markets and the broader economy, the White House said.

California and other states which had fought a merger of Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US Inc over concerns about higher prices for consumers and less innovation have agreed to end their opposition to the deal in a settlement with the companies.

The dollar weakened and the Dow Jones industrials entered bear market territory on Wednesday on mounting worries about the global economy after world health officials declared a coronavirus pandemic and Reuters reported a White House gag order on top-level U.S. meetings on the outbreak.

Sporting goods retailer Modell's Sporting Goods filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. bankruptcy court in New Jersey on Wednesday, citing a challenging retail environment.

Retailer Best Buy Co Inc said on Wednesday Executive Chairman Hubert Joly would step down and will not stand for re-election at the shareholder meeting on June 11.

Leading U.S. bank executives in a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House said banks are strongly capitalized and prepared to help small businesses and American consumers weather the coronavirus outbreak.

Boeing Co is freezing new hiring and overtime except in certain critical areas to preserve cash, the U.S. planemaker's CEO said on Wednesday, as the coronavirus outbreak compounds the fallout from a year-old grounding of its money-spinning 737 MAX.

Trump administration officials have postponed for a second time a critical meeting originally set for Wednesday to discuss potential new U.S. restrictions on sales of technology to Huawei and China, people familiar with the matter said.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc is asking companies it controls to draw down their credit lines to avoid liquidity crunch, a Bloomberg reporter tweeted on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak said on Wednesday that bookings had plunged 50% since the coronavirus outbreak and that it now expected significant service reductions and losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Oil prices fell 4% on Wednesday, sinking into the close of trading with renewed weakness in the stock market after the World Health Organization said the global coronavirus outbreak is now a pandemic, and as major oil producers announced plans to escalate the burgeoning price war.

Boeing Co is freezing new hiring and overtime except in certain critical areas in efforts to preserve cash due to the coronavirus outbreaks and the 737 MAX grounding, people familiar the matter said on Wednesday.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it would launch a program to boost production capacity for the first time in more than a decade, signaling to Russia and other rivals it was ready for a long battle over production levels and market share.

Wall Street plunged on Wednesday, bringing the stock market closer to bear market confirmation after the World Health Organization said it now considers the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.

The deep declines in the U.S. stock market over coronavirus fears the last three weeks have left a dent in retirement portfolios and brokerage accounts, costing on average each person in the United States around $16,000 as of Monday's close before a rebound Tuesday erased some of those losses.

Until recently, economists were debating what it would take for the U.S. economy to fall into a recession. But after taking a cue from markets, the conversation for some economists has shifted from whether there will be a sharp downturn, to figuring out what shape the recovery could take.

The top U.S. securities regulator has increased its scrutiny of private funds that make higher-risk loans over the last two years, according to a Reuters review of SEC actions and industry and regulatory sources -- just as fears of a global recession hit the booming private credit market.

The U.S. government recorded a $235 billion budget deficit in February, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.