Global stock markets fell in volatile trading on Tuesday, and the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic left the MSCI benchmark of world equities with its biggest quarterly decline since the financial crisis of 2008.
Wall Street's three major indexes tumbled on Tuesday, with the Dow registering its biggest quarterly decline since 1987 and the S&P 500 suffering its deepest quarterly drop since the financial crisis on growing evidence of massive economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.
The dollar fell against a basket of major currencies on Tuesday modestly pressured by the weight of Federal Reserve measures meant to ensure there was enough liquidity in the global financial system.
Zoom Video Communications Inc's average user numbers in March were nearly three times that of its nearest rival Microsoft Corp's Teams, according to research firm Apptopia, as the cornonavirus-driven stay-at-home lifted demand for video conferencing platforms.
Barclays , Royal Bank of Scotland and the British arm of Spain's Santander , said on Tuesday they would suspend dividend payments, saving their capital as a buffer against expected losses from the economic fallout from the coronavirus.
Italy's biggest bank by assets, UniCredit SpA , said on Tuesday its top managers had decided to waive their entire 2020 bonus pay and that the bank would donate an equivalent amount to the UniCredit Foundation to support social initiatives.
Fiat Chrysler did not mention any possible delay in the merger process with France's PSA during a call with unions on Tuesday, metal workers' union FIOM said.
Crude oil benchmarks ended a volatile quarter with their biggest losses in history, as both U.S. and Brent futures were hammered throughout March on the global economic freeze due to the coronavirus pandemic and the eruption of a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich, an architect of the sweeping 2017 Republican tax cut, is under consideration to oversee a newly created $500 billion coronavirus rescue loan program for large companies, cities and states, two sources familiar with the agency's plans said.
U.S. pension funds that delayed rebalancing their portfolios are likely to pump about $400 billion into stocks over the next two quarters, analysts at JP Morgan said, providing a potential boost to equity markets battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would join Saudi Arabia and Russia, if need be, for talks about the sharp fall in oil prices resulting from a price war between the two countries.
The U.S. Transportation Department on Tuesday proposed that passenger airlines should be required to maintain minimum numbers of flights as a condition for receiving aid from the government's $50 billion grant and loan fund.
U.S. printer maker Xerox Holdings Corp walked away from its $35 billion hostile cash-and-stock bid for HP Inc on Tuesday, after the coronavirus outbreak weighed on its campaign to take over the PC and printing equipment manufacturer.
Macy's Inc will be removed from the benchmark S&P 500 stock index , the S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Tuesday, as coronavirus-induced store closures compound the retail sector's struggles with a shift to online shopping.
An independent group of workers at Whole Foods Market called on colleagues to phone in sick to the grocer's stores on Tuesday to protest what they say is a lack of adequate compensation and protections from the coronavirus.