Markets

China's Wuhan city is considering steps to support its biggest local automaker Dongfeng Motor Corp, according to a draft policy document reviewed by Reuters, as the epicentre of China's novel coronavirus outbreak tries to revive its economy.

Sweden's Ericsson will lift its forecast for 5G subscriptions globally to around 2.8 billion by 2025 from 2.6 billion seen previously, as a consequence of the coronavirus outbreak, it said on Monday.

Japanese telco SoftBank Corp on Monday forecast operating profit for the current financial year at 920 billion yen (US$8.6 billion), largely unchanged from a year earlier.

Toshiba Corp said on Monday it expects operating profit for the year ended March to more than triple, as the Japanese industrial conglomerate sees a limited impact from the coronavirus outbreak on its earnings for the financial year.

Sony has suspended its PlayStation Store in mainland China saying it wanted to improve the online store's security, in a move that will temporarily prevent it from selling games in the world's largest video game market.

Japanese telco SoftBank Corp on Monday said it forecasts operating profit will rise 0.9per cent to 920 billion yen (US$8.6 billion) in the current financial year.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered meat processing plants to stay open to protect the nation's food supply even as workers got sick and died. Yet the plants have increasingly been exporting to China while U.S. consumers face shortages, a Reuters analysis of government data showed.

ROBBIO, Italy: Europe's top rice producer Italy has seen consumption of the staple rise throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, putting even pasta in the shade. It's not just popular at home either - China itself has even signed a deal to import Italian rice. The Chinese have their eyes on varieties ......

Chinese direct investment in the United States dropped to the lowest level since 2009 last year amid bilateral tensions, and the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to weigh on investment flows between the world's two biggest economies, according to a report.

Central bankers who have spent a generation researching how their words influence the economy and honing the craft of "forward guidance" are now effectively tongue-tied by a health crisis that has no clear destination yet to guide households and investors toward.