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China sharpens language, warns Taiwan that independence 'means war'

China believes that Taiwan's democratically-elected government is moving the island towards a declaration of formal independence

US economy contracts in 2020; worst performance since 1946

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its benchmark overnight interest rate near zero

McDonald's earnings miss estimates as Europe lockdowns squash sales

Several European countries announced tough restrictions as the health crisis spiraled out of control late last year, adding to the woes of the restaurant industry

Wall Street opens higher shrugging off bleak GDP, jobless claims data

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74.0 points, or 0.24%, at the open to 30377.19

WHO team in Wuhan probing Covid-19 origins moves out of quarantine

The mission has been plagued by delays, concern over access and bickering between China and the United States

Facebook oversight board overrules company on most cases in first test

The first rulings will be scrutinized to see how independent the board appears from the world's largest social media platform

Mastercard beats Wall Street profit estimates as customers spend more

Excluding items, Mastercard reported net income of $1.6 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, or $1.64 per share, compared with $2 billion a year earlier, or $1.96 a share

Oil steadies at $55.89 a barrel as Covid-19-induced demand worries persist

Brent crude futures were up 8 cents, or 0.1%, at $55.89 a barrel by 1331 GMT, having hit a session low of $55.31

Aramco will launch further share sales, says Saudi Arabia's crown prince

He was speaking at the kingdom's Future Investment Initiative conference

American Airlines' quarterly loss better than expected, shares jump 60%

American joined rival Delta Air Lines in calling 2021 a year of recovery for an industry that has been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gold prices dip as investors opt for relative shelter of US dollar

Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,840 an ounce by 1258 GMT. Prices had fallen to their lowest since Jan. 18 at $1,830.80 on Wednesday.

India's small investors rush to join US firm GameStop's frenzied rally

This week, GameStop accounted for 19% of the trades on Vested Finance, an Indian investment firm that helps Indians buy or sell US stocks

China likely to avoid setting 2021 GDP target over debt concerns: Report

China is the world's second-biggest economy

GameStop slugfest spreads to Australia as calls for probe build

In the United States, the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit that is seen as having fuelled the rallies briefly closed its doors on Wednesday as membership jumped past 4 million

Boosted by tech stocks, Norway wealth fund earned $123 billion in 2020

Norway's $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund is the world's largest

Prudential drops Jackson IPO in favour of demerger, may raise $2.5-3 bn

Former MetLife CEO Steven Kandarian will become non-executive chair of Jackson from Feb 1, Prudential said

Toyota beats Volkswagen to become World's No.1 car seller in 2020

The pandemic demand slump hit Volkswagen harder

China opposes discriminatory actions by India against Chinese firms

China's remarks relate to India's continued ban on 59 Chinese apps

Apple becomes biggest smartphone seller with record 90.1 mn shipments

Data from research firm IDC showed Apple's shipments surged 22 per cent to a record 90.1 million phones in the quarter

Facebook beats quarterly revenue estimates; monthly active users up 12%

The results validate the company's foray into e-commerce with Instagram Shopping and Facebook Marketplace that banked on the trend of social shopping