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Millions more Americans likely sought unemployment benefits last week, lifting total filings for claims over the past month above an astounding 20 million, which would underscore the deepening economic slump caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

A flight to safety bid pushed the dollar higher against its peers on Thursday after dire retail and factory data showed the severity of the collapse in U.S. economic activity caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

World stock markets fell on Thursday, while bonds and the dollar held on to hefty gains, after a coronavirus-driven plunge in U.S. retail sales and factory production and increasing gloomy economic outlooks for Asia.

United Airlines Holdings Inc told employees on Wednesday that it has cut its flight schedule by 90% in May and possibly June, and to prepare for a smaller airline and workforce starting as early as Oct. 1.

U.S. air travel was shut down for three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It took three years for the industry to recover despite toughened passenger screening and the creation of a new agency devoted to transportation security.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has hired high-powered consultants to develop a science-based plan for the safe economic reopening of the region that can thwart expected pressure from President Donald Trump to move more rapidly, state government sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Oil rose on Thursday, with U.S. crude rebounding from near-20-year lows in the previous session on hopes that a big build-up in U.S. inventories may mean producers have little option but to deepen output cuts as the coronavirus pandemic ravages demand.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that data suggested the country had passed the peak on new coronavirus infections, and said he would announce "new guidelines" for reopening the economy at a news conference on Thursday.

The top U.S. retail banks said on Wednesday they would provide relief to customers who had overdrawn checking accounts, so that they could reap the full benefits of the federal government's cash stimulus program.

A federal judge said Tesla Inc and Chief Executive Elon Musk must face a lawsuit claiming they misled shareholders when Musk tweeted that he had secured funding to take his electric car company private in a $72 billion transaction.

J.C. Penney Co Inc said on Wednesday it will not make a $12 million interest payment on its long-term corporate bonds, a day after Reuters reported the department store operator was considering filing for bankruptcy protection.

Best Buy Co Inc said on Wednesday it would furlough about 51,000 hourly U.S. store employees and that its sales dropped about 5% in the first two months of the current quarter, as the electronics retailer kept its stores shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A flight to safety bid pushed the dollar higher against its peers on Thursday after dire retail and factory data showed the severity of the collapse in U.S. economic activity caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd said on Wednesday it would lay off or furlough about 26% of its workforce in the United States, affecting nearly 1,300 of its more than 5,000 employees in the country, as the coronavirus chokes international travel.

American semiconductor firm Xilinx Inc said on Wednesday it had won a deal to supply chips to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd for 5G networking equipment.

Alphabet Inc's Google will slow hiring for the rest of the year, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told the company's staff in a memo on Wednesday.

Asian stocks look set to tumble on Thursday, as fears that the world is in its worst recession since the 1930s were heightened by data showing U.S. retailers suffered a record sales collapse in March due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Several major U.S. airlines are preparing to apply this week for a $25 billion U.S. government loan program after winning billions in federal payroll grants, people familiar with the matter said, as the industry braces for a slow recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. retail sales suffered a record drop in March and output at factories declined by the most since 1946, buttressing analysts' views that the economy contracted in the first quarter at its sharpest pace in decades as extraordinary measures to control the spread of the novel coronavirus shut down the country.

After closing their doors to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, many small businesses face an uncertain future following government-ordered lockdowns.