Reuters Business News

French luxury goods group LVMH's $16.2 billion takeover of Tiffany & Co is looking less certain as the jeweler grapples with a deteriorating situation in the U.S. market brought on by a global pandemic and severe social unrest, fashion trade publication WWD reported on Tuesday.

Oil prices climbed by more than $1 a barrel on Tuesday on hopes that major crude producers will agree to extend output cuts during a video conference expected to be held this week and as countries and U.S. states begin to reopen after coronavirus lockdowns.

World stock markets hit their highest levels since March and oil prices jumped on Tuesday as signs of a global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic offset concerns over the worst civil unrest in the United States in decades.

General Motors Co should emerge from the coronavirus pandemic with a permanently reduced cost base after it scrambled to reduce its cash burn to withstand a two-month shutdown in North American production as part of efforts to halt the spread of COVID-19, its top executive said on Tuesday.

A Washington-based advocacy group on Tuesday asked a U.S. judge to invalidate an executive order on social media companies President Donald Trump signed last week claiming it violates the First Amendment.

The United States is investigating digital services taxes being adopted or considered by Britain, Italy, Brazil and other countries, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Tuesday, a move that could lead to new punitive tariffs and heighten trade tensions.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday said it had sanctioned four shipping firms for transporting Venezuelan oil, the latest escalation in Washington's effort to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro by cutting off the OPEC nation's crude exports.

U.S. stocks posted modest gains on Tuesday as market participants looked past widespread social unrest and pandemic worries to focus instead on lifting lockdown restrictions and signs of economic recovery.

Polestar, the premium electric vehicle maker owned by China's Geely, plans a big expansion of its showroom network in the mainland, sources said, as it prepares for delivery of cars to compete with Tesla Inc's locally made Model 3.

A California appeals court on Tuesday heard arguments in the first case that went to trial over allegations that Bayer AG's glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup causes cancer, resulting in a $289 million judgment against the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co and Barclays Plc will pay $20.7 million to resolve investors' claims they conspired to rig the Mexican government bond market, the first of nine banks in the proposed class-action litigation to settle.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Tuesday urged six major manufacturers to equip turbine-powered helicopters with crash-resistant systems to record data, audio and images, after former NBA star Kobe Bryant and eight others were killed in a helicopter crash in January.

Oil prices climbed about $1 a barrel on Tuesday on hopes that major crude producers will agree to extend output cuts during a video conference likely to be held this week and as countries and U.S. states begin to reopen after coronavirus lockdowns.

Facebook Inc on Wednesday named the first members of its independent oversight board, which will be able to overturn the company's decisions on individual pieces of content and recommend policy changes.

China is using telecoms giant Huawei to try to drive a wedge between Britain and the United States, Republican senator Tom Cotton told British lawmakers on Tuesday.

U.S. bank Goldman Sachs has signed a lease for a new Paris headquarters building, committing to a city centre office development at a time when many banks are weighing scaling back their presence in cities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Southwest Airlines Co on Monday extended buyout packages and temporary paid leaves to employees in what its chief executive said was an effort to "ensure survival" as the carrier braces for a slow recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, according to documents detailing the packages that were seen by Reuters.

Several automakers on Tuesday reported stronger-than-expected May sales in the United States, and the Detroit automakers said they will work through their annual summer shutdowns to rebuild inventories as demand recovers from coronavirus shutdowns.

France has not attached any major conditions to a 5 billion euro ($5.6 billion) state-backed loan for Renault, the carmaker's chairman said on Tuesday, although the finance minister called on the company to hold "exemplary" talks with unions.

U.S. issuance of convertible bonds in May hit a record high of $20.7 billion, according to Bank of America data, as companies struggling with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic ventured into the one-time niche market seeking cheaper and easier ways to borrow cash.