Italy’s UniCredit on Wednesday became the first major euro zone bank to write down the value of its loans to reflect the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis. Italy’s biggest bank by assets said it would book around €900m in additional loan loss provisions in the first quarter to take into account an expected 13% contraction in the euro zone’s 2020 gross domestic product.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde drew the line on how far the ECB could go in helping virus-stricken euro zone countries on Wednesday, insisting that lending to governments directly would be illegal and handing out cash to citizens difficult.

Wall Street stocks finished sharply higher on Friday, 17 April, closing out a second week of gains as US officials moved forward with plans to gradually reopen the economy.

Sales of new cars in the European Union fell by more than 50% last month, in a record collapse blamed on the novel coronavirus pandemic. Just around 567,000 new cars were registered, some 55.1% fewer than in March 2019, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said Friday in a monthly bulletin.

Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra will be linked to individual national currencies and overseen by global watchdogs, according a new plan, unveiled by the Libra’s governing body, by which it hopes to win regulatory approval.

An agreement by Group of 20 major economies to suspend official bilateral debt payments by the poorest countries will begin on 1 May and runs through the end of the year, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Wednesday.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected the global economy would shrink by 3% in 2020 amid the global coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released on Tuesday. In its latest World Economic Outlook -- released before the annual conference of the IMF and World Bank on Wednesday, the fund downgraded its growth forecast by 6.3 percentage points from its previous report as isolation, lockdowns and widespread closures to contain the virus hit the economy.

World stocks gained on Tuesday after Chinese trade data came in better than expected and some countries tried to restart their economy by partly lifting restrictions aimed at containing the coronavirus outbreak.

The International Monetary Fund on Monday announced immediate debt relief for 25 poor countries to help them free up funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Big US banks made a pretty penny in trading during the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic caused wild market swings, analysts said, but those gains will likely be overshadowed by declines in other businesses and a bleak outlook for the rest of the year.