The UK economy suffered its biggest monthly contraction on record in April, with the country's GDP shrinking by a fifth during the first full month of its Covid-19 lockdown.

US gross domestic product (GDP) will not reach its pre-pandemic levels until well into 2022 following a sharp contraction this year, economists with major US banks said.

The steel industry was affected by the virus in the first quarter of 2020.

China's foreign trade continued to fall in March, but the momentum of decline has greatly eased, indicating that the world's second-largest economy is gradually recovering from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

China's imports of bulk commodities including iron ore, crude oil and coal, as well as essential agricultural products.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to its best day since 1933 as Congress and the White House neared a deal on Tuesday to inject nearly $2 trillion of aid into an economy ravaged by the coronavirus.

US Federal Reserve announced that it is dropping its benchmark interest rate to zero and launching a new round of quantitative easing entailing USD 700 billion worth of asset purchases of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities.

[Ferro-Alloys.com] Stocks roared back to life on Wall Street Monday, recouping some of their losses from last week's market meltdown.