Reuters Business News

Amazon.com Inc has extended its work-from-home advisory to include employees in New York and New Jersey, the company said Monday, as the world's largest online retailer and other corporations aim to lower the risk of coronavirus transmission among their ranks.

Wall Street took a nose-dive on Monday as recession worries loomed large while tumbling oil prices and ongoing coronavirus fears prompted investor panic on the anniversary of the U.S. stock market's longest-ever bull run.

Fears about the rapidly spreading coronavirus and its impact on the global economy, which deepened on Monday with the collapse of oil prices, have evaporated over $5 trillion of the S&P 500's market value in recent weeks.

The coronavirus will accelerate a Darwinian shakeout in Europe's overcrowded airline industry that ultimately benefits Ryanair and British Airways owner IAG, industry experts predict.

Global stock markets plunged on Monday and oil prices tumbled by as much as a third after Saudi Arabia launched a price war with Russia, sending investors already spooked by the coronavirus outbreak fleeing for the safety of bonds and the Japanese yen.

Ethiopian investigators singled out faulty systems on a Boeing 737 MAX plane in an interim report on last year's Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people, piling pressure on the U.S. jetmaker on the eve of the disaster's anniversary.

Shares of U.S. banks sharply underperformed the broader stock market on Monday as investors bet tumbling interest rates would crush bank profits and worried about rising credit costs in the face of an economy spooked by coronavirus and plunging oil prices.

Wall Street tumbled on Monday and recession fears loomed large as plummeting oil prices and ongoing coronavirus worries sparked a panic-driven sell-off, sending investors fleeing risk for safety on the anniversary of the U.S. stock market's longest-ever bull run.

A plunge in U.S. markets on Monday triggered a 15-minute trading halt in stocks after the S&P 500 fell 7% shortly after the market opened.

Aon Plc said on Monday it would buy Willis Towers Watson Plc for nearly $30 billion, in an all-stock deal which will make it the world's biggest insurance broker and give it more pricing power, but also attract regulatory scrutiny.

Trading in options on Wall Street's fear gauge was impossible in the first minutes of Monday's session due to a complete absence of prices from the market makers on whom trading depends, a representative of index operator CBOE Global Markets Inc said. CBOE Senior Trade Desk Specialist Ryan Stone told Reuters that VIX options were tradable at 9:51 a.m. ET (1351 GMT) but a lack of liquidity led to a lag of about seven minutes until the first trade, around

Twitter Inc on Monday reached an agreement with Elliott Management that lets Jack Dorsey stay as chief executive and adds three new directors a few days after Elliott's plan to push out the social media company's chief became public.

Wall Street's main stock indexes plummeted about 5% on Monday, as a slump in oil prices and the rapid spread of the coronavirus amplified fears of a global recession on the anniversary of the U.S. stock market's longest bull run.

By Silvia Ognibene, Riccardo Bastianello, Silvia Aloisi

Wall Street banks and brokers are in "robust" talks with regulators to secure rule-waivers that would allow thousands of traders to operate from home as the coronavirus spreads in New York, the chief executive of a top industry group told Reuters.

U.S. cash crude prices plunged on Monday, with popular export grades sliding to their weakest levels in more than a year and a half, following a collapse in benchmark futures in the biggest daily price rout since the 1991 Gulf War.

Oil prices suffered their biggest daily rout since the 1991 Gulf War on Monday as top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia began a price war that threatens to overwhelm global oil markets with supply.A 20% slump in oil prices triggered another day of heavy losses on Wall Street's main stock indexes as the rapid spread of coronavirus amplified fears of a global recession. [MKTS/GLOB]

Trading in options on Wall Street's fear gauge was impossible in the first minutes of Monday's session due to a complete absence of prices from the market makers on whom trading depends, a representative of index operator CBOE Global Markets Inc said.

Canada's biggest banks said on Monday they are moving some traders to alternate locations, joining global banks splitting up operations to reduce disruptions due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Older Americans, especially those with chronic medical concerns, should probably avoid big social gatherings and airline flights, given the rapid spread of coronavirus, a top U.S. health official said on Sunday, as investors braced for another volatile week in financial markets.