 | | | | Wall Street's three major indexes on Wednesday suffered their biggest daily percentage drop in almost two weeks as a surge in U.S. coronavirus cases intensified fears of another round of government lockdowns and worsening economic damage. | | | | | | Rising concerns about a surge in coronavirus infections sent global equities and oil prices lower on Wednesday and pushed investors into perceived safe havens such U.S. Treasuries and gold, which hovered near its highest level in eight years. | | | | | | Italy has approved a decree offering state guarantees for a 6.3-billion euro ($7.1 billion) loan to Fiat Chrysler's (FCA) Italian unit, the Treasury said on Wednesday, paving the way for the largest crisis loan to a European carmaker. | | | | | | Upscale retailers including Nordstrom Inc , privately-owned Saks Fifth Avenue and jeweler Tiffany & Co , reopened their large New York City flagship locations on Wednesday with reassuring signage and sanitizer stands to calm shoppers worried about the coronavirus pandemic. | | | | | | Bayer AG, after more than a year of talks, agreed to pay as much as $10.9 billion to settle close to 100,000 U.S. lawsuits claiming that its widely-used weedkiller Roundup caused cancer, resolving litigation that has pummeled the company's share price. | | | | | | Oil prices tumbled over 5%, or more than $2 a barrel on Wednesday, after U.S. crude storage hit another record and coronavirus cases rebounded in countries like Germany and surged in heavily populated areas of the United States. | | | | | | The dollar strengthened on Wednesday as a rise in coronavirus cases in the United States reduced confidence in a quick economic recovery, and as the U.S. weighed tariffs on European products. | | | | | | California plans to ask a state court judge to force Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc to classify their ride-hail drivers as employees rather than contractors, ratcheting up the tension over a new gig worker law. | | | | | | The Trump administration has determined that top Chinese firms, including telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] and video surveillance company Hikvision , are owned or controlled by the Chinese military, laying the groundwork for new U.S. financial sanctions, according to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. | | | | | | Lufthansa has drawn up a plan to avoid insolvency should a shareholder vote on Thursday fail to approve a $10 billion government bailout, a company source told Reuters on Wednesday. | | | | | | Lufthansa's chances of winning approval for a 9 billion euros government bailout improved on Wednesday after billionaire Heinz Hermann Thiele, who owns a 15.5% stake, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he would endorse the rescue. | | | | | |
