Oil prices fell sharply Monday after a meeting to discuss output cuts between OPEC and its allies was delayed, dimming hopes of swift action to support coronavirus-ravaged energy markets.

Boeing has said it will indefinitely extend a shutdown at its factories in Washington state because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic is increasing poverty in Britain, where levels are already high after a decade of austerity triggered by the global financial crisis, according to experts.

Latin America is heading into "a deep recession" in 2020, with an expected drop in the region's GDP of 1.8 to 4.0 percent due to the coronavirus pandemic, the UN economic commission for the region said Friday.

The coronavirus pandemic threatens to cause food shortages for hundreds of millions of people, especially in Africa, the United Nations warned Friday.

Business activity in the 19-nation eurozone suffered a record fall in March and hit an historic low, according to the PMI index published on Friday by analysts IHS Markit.

The IHS purchasing managers index for the month was 29.7 -- down from Markit's first estimate for March of 31.4 and well below the level in February of 51.6 points, before the coronavirus epidemic crippled the European economy.

Crude prices slipped Friday after the previous day's record surge as traders questioned Donald Trump's claims that Russia and Saudi Arabia were set to slash output, while Asian equities were mixed after another thunderous rise in US jobless claims caused by the virus crisis.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that after speaking to Saudi Arabia's leader he expects oil production to be slashed, defusing a Saudi-Russian price war that has heavily impacted the US energy industry.

France's finance minister urged European nations on Thursday to "go further and act stronger" to help each other's economies recover from the ravages of the coronavirus crisis.

Equity markets fell in Asia on Thursday, tracking a sharp drop on Wall Street as the deadly coronavirus sweeps the planet, with the infection rate fast approaching one million and forcing countries to tighten already strict lockdown measures aimed at containing the disease.