Wall Street closed out its best week in 45 years on Thursday after the Federal Reserve launched its latest titanic effort to support the economy through the coronavirus outbreak. The central bank announced programs to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to households, local governments and businesses as the country tips into what economists say may be the worst recession in decades.

The US Federal Reserve on Thursday rolled out a broad, $2.3 trillion effort to bolster local governments and small and mid-sized businesses in its latest move to keep the US economy intact as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic.

Measures imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus are pushing the world economy into a recession deeper and more painful than initially expected, even if a rebound is still on the cards for next year. A week before the International Monetary Fund updates its forecasts for the global economy that will take into account the initial damage incurred since the coronavirus emerged in China at the start of the year, the first sets of data are coming in.

World stock markets jumped on Monday, encouraged by a slowdown in coronavirus-related deaths and new cases, though a delay in talks between Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut supply sent oil tumbling again.Equity investors were encouraged as the death toll from the virus slowed across major European nations including France and Italy.

The cost of the coronavirus pandemic could be as high as $4.1 trillion, or almost 5% of global gross domestic product, depending on the disease’s spread through Europe, the US and other major economies, Bloomberg reported, referring to an Asian Development Bank’ forecast.

The German government is supplementing its existing uncapped aid for businesses to survive the ongoing coronavirus crisis with €2 two billion directed specifically at the country's startups. The initiative sees the state supporting venture capital investors who make funds available to creative fledgling firms.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has urged banks to adopt a conservative approach during awarding of bonuses, if not stopping them completely, to withstand the economic shock arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Eurozone head Mario Centeno has called on his fellow EU finance ministers to consider new tools as the search for a remedy to the bloc's economic ills divides member states, dpa reported on Wednesday.

US Federal Reserve is intervening once again to try to smooth out the world’s lending markets, this time by lending dollars to other central banks in exchange for Treasurys.

China's central bank on Monday cut an interest rate on loans to banks by the largest margin in five years and injected 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) into the financial system to help the world's second-largest economy weather the coronavirus impact.