Swedish retailer H&M has sent notice of temporary lay-offs to 2,000 employees in Norway due to the coronavirus outbreak, Norwegian business daily Dagens Naeringsliv reported on Thursday, citing the head of the Norwegian business.
The outbreak of disease caused by the new coronavirus has raised questions about a phenomenon known as "herd immunity" and whether it might play a role in how the pandemic progresses.
The world's richest nations poured unprecedented aid into the global economy on Thursday as coronavirus cases ballooned in the new epicenter Europe, with the number of deaths in Italy outstripping those in mainland China, where the virus originated.
The trade group for U.S. auto parts makers on Thursday asked the government for emergency grants "to keep the doors open," tariff relief and other assistance to cope with mounting pressures from the coronavirus crisis.
From Brazil to Norway, policymakers are leaping to defend currencies against the onslaught of the dollar which scaled three-year peaks on Thursday, raising speculation that a joint move by the world's biggest central banks may be in the offing.
LATAM Airlines Group , South America's largest carrier, will cut pay to its 43,000-strong workforce by 50% for three months due to economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, a source close to the situation told Reuters on Thursday.
U.S. stocks managed to post gains on Thursday after recent steep losses as policymakers around the world took further emergency actions to try to help financial markets cope with deep coronavirus-driven economic damage.
Microsoft Corp's Teams chat and conferencing app gained more than 12 million daily users in one week, a 37.5% jump as more people worked from home during the coronavirus outbreak, the company said on Thursday.
Tesla Inc has told employees it reduced the number of workers at its California vehicle factory to curb the spread of coronavirus as Chief Executive Elon Musk said the company may start producing ventilators to ease a U.S. shortage.
The Bank of England promised 200 billion pounds of bond purchases and cut its key interest rate to 0.1% in a second emergency move in just over a week to try to mitigate the hit to Britain's economy from the coronavirus outbreak.
Siemens managing board member Michael Sen will no longer take charge of the new energy business which the German engineering group wants to spin off later this year, it said on Thursday, after he agreed to leave the company.
The crisis for airlines deepened on Thursday as Lufthansa , which has grounded most of its fleet, warned the industry may not survive coronavirus pandemic without government aid to offset nosediving demand.
U.S. crude oil prices spiked by 25% on Thursday, the largest single-day gain on record, recouping some losses from three days of selling that drove the benchmark to near 20-year lows.
By Sarah Young, Costas Pitas, Giulio Piovaccari and Elvira Pollina
Brazil's tourist hotspot Rio de Janeiro reported its first two coronavirus deaths on Thursday, bringing the country's toll to six, as Latin America's largest nation closed more borders to visitors and the foreign minister waded into a diplomatic spat with China.