US stocks snapped a three-day winning streak on Friday as investors refocused on the wide economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic while President Donald Trump prepared to sign a historic US stimulus bill into law. 

Rolls-Royce is suspending production for a week at its UK civil aero-engine factories, following similar measures taken by aerospace companies from Airbus to Safran, as the industry struggles with the constraints imposed by the spreading coronavirus pandemic. 

Most German companies have put hiring plans on hold and many of them are planning to lay off workers because of the coronavirus crisis. But analysts are divided on how much the country’s short-term work subsidy scheme will cushion the blow.

Wall Street recorded its first three-day rally since February on Thursday as investors digested an unprecedented surge in US unemployment claims and looked ahead to a $2tn stimulus package that had cleared the US Senate overnight. 

A little-known Norwegian hedge fund manager is taking over as chief executive of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund just as the coronavirus crisis presents it with its sternest test.

February’s bad weather kept Britain’s shoppers at home and resulted in a fall in retail sales even before the coronavirus pandemic led to the closure of all non-essential shops.

US equities recorded their first back-to-back daily gains in more than a month as US legislators worked to finalise an emergency stimulus bill to provide $2tn in relief to taxpayers and businesses struggling with the effects of coronavirus.

US stocks had their best day since the financial crisis more than a decade ago on Tuesday, on signs that Congress was closing in on an agreement for a potent fiscal stimulus package to alleviate the economic and financial market effects of the coronavirus.

A promise of unprecedented government and corporate bond buying from the Federal Reserve helped push down US borrowing costs on Monday, but equity markets ended in the red as investors anxiously awaited the second half of the US authorities’ response to the coronavirus crisis, namely a fiscal stimulus being wrangled on Capitol Hill.

Canada’s Endeavour Mining has agreed to combine with Semafo in a C$1bn ($690m) deal to create the largest gold miner in West Africa, in the latest push to consolidate operations in the fragmented gold mining sector.

Wall Street failed to record two consecutive days in positive territory, succumbing to a late sell-off that sent the S&P 500 down 4.3 per cent on Friday and left the index nursing a 15 per cent decline for the week, even as equity markets elsewhere staged a recovery.

Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, briefly rose above $30 a barrel in the European morning, pushed higher by new government measures to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus and reports that President Donald Trump could intervene in the Russia-Saudi price war.

The S&P 500 has taken 14 sessions to notch up a daily move at the closing bell of less than 1 per cent in what might seem like a relative relief after days including the biggest plunge since 1987’s Black Monday and the largest one-day gain since 2008.

Global stocks, government bonds and oil prices rose on Thursday in response to a flurry of emergency packages from central banks intended to buffer economies and financial markets from the conoravirus pandemic.

The US Federal Reserve is broadening the swap lines it has set up to boost US dollar funding markets to additional countries including large emerging markets such as Brazil and Mexico as well as European nations including Denmark and Sweden.

Swiss bank Credit Suisse said it was on course to deliver strong performance in the first quarter of the year, despite the market chaos caused by the coronavirus epidemic.

EnQuest is to abandon production at two North Sea fields as the UK oil producer laid out plans to slash spending and sought to reassure over its liquidity.

Global stocks closed higher on Tuesday after the US Federal Reserve worked to shore up corporate funding markets and governments on both sides of the Atlantic set out stimulus packages designed to counter the economic impact of the coronavirus.

German investor sentiment about the economy plummeted in March to its lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis, as the severe disruption of the coronavirus pandemic shut down much activity across Europe.

The S&P 500 index of US stocks fell 12 per cent on Monday, a day after an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve, as the US and other countries around the world imposed stricter curbs on public activity.

The economic and market turmoil sparked by the global coronavirus pandemic will continue to be the centre of attention, as investors look to central banks, including the US Federal Reserve, to provide further support this week.

The S&P 500 on Friday notched up one of its biggest one-day gains on record, capping off a volatile week for stocks that had seen elevated fears around the spread of the coronavirus and a plunge in the price of crude oil.

US and European stocks staged a powerful recovery on Friday to trim the losses from a frenetic week of trading, as governments and central banks around the world stepped up their efforts to limit the damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

European authorities have intervened in the region’s stock and bond markets with a series of measures intended to bring stability to prices, after record falls were compounded by fears that traders are reluctant to buy or sell.

The European Central Bank’s chief economist has sought to soothe the disruption his president Christine Lagarde caused in government bond markets by saying that they “stand ready to do more” to contain any sovereign debt stress.