Business

NEW YORK (AP) — The escalating coronavirus emergency Thursday sent stocks to their worst losses since the Black Monday crash of 1987, extending a sell-off that has now wiped out most of Wall Street’s big run-up since President Donald Trump’s election. The S&P 500 plummeted 9.5%, for a total drop of 26.7% from its all-time […]

Image caption Rishi Sunak delivered the Budget to the Commons on Wednesday Borrowing more money to invest into the UK is “the right economic thing to do”, the chancellor has said. Rishi Sunak told the BBC that interest rates were at a “multi-decade low” and he was “not going to make an apology” for the

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Digital money would be denominated in pounds, like banknotes The Bank of England is considering the introduction of electronic banknotes for use by consumers and businesses. Governor Mark Carney said: “We are in the middle of a revolution in payments,” saying the Bank must look into how electronic money

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Christine Lagarde, newly-appointed head of the European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced steps to tackle the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. It is offering cheap loans to commercial banks to encourage them to lend to small businesses. It is also expanding its quantitative easing

Image copyright Norwegian Norwegian Air is set to cancel 4,000 flights and temporarily lay off about half of its staff because of the coronavirus outbreak. The budget airline said the changes would apply until the end of May and numbers may increase. Its boss said new restrictions on travel between the US and mainland Europe

Image copyright Christopher Furlong Coal power developers risk wasting hundreds of billions of pounds as new renewable sources are now cheaper than new coal plants, a report has said. The shift is mainly down to the tumbling cost of wind and solar power, researchers from Carbon Tracker said. They added that in 10 years it

Image copyright Gov.uk The government says it wants to “raise the bar” on smart motorway safety, following criticism of the scheme. Under the plan, opening motorway hard shoulders for traffic in busy periods will be scrapped. On those smart motorways where the hard shoulder has been removed entirely, there will be an increase in the

NEW YORK (AP) — The sell-off bludgeoning financial markets around the world got even worse Thursday as the economic pain caused by the coronavirus became more painfully clear. Worries are rising that the White House and other authorities around the world can’t or won’t do what’s needed to help soon. After the Dow Jones Industrial

Image copyright EPA The Budget measures to tackle the coronavirus are substantial, but limited, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The IFS gave its assessment the day after the chancellor announced a £12bn package to mitigate the economic effects of the virus. It also warned that working from home would be harder for

Image copyright Getty Images Amazon workers can take unlimited sick days this month – but only those who test positive for the Covid-19 virus will be entitled to any sick pay. Many US warehouse workers are entitled to only 10 days’ leave a year – for all holidays, sickness and emergencies. And some had asked