Rolling updates on the latest developments and headlines from around the world on the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Gina Lee and Peter Nurse
09:10 AM ET: U.S. retail sales slumped 16.4% in April
Lockdowns across the U.S. led retail sales to their deepest monthly fall on record in April, new data published on Friday showed.
The Census Bureau said that retail sales fell by 16.4%, after a drop of 8.4% in March. That is considerably worse than the 12% fall expected by analysts ahead of time. The March drop was a tad less steep than the initial estimate of 8.7%.
09:08 AM ET: Norway likely to maintain travel restrictions until late August - PM
Norway will likely maintain current travel restrictions to and from the Nordic country until Aug. 20, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said on Friday.
The measures include official advice against travelling abroad unless necessary, a 10-day quarantine for all people returning from abroad and barring entry to most non-Norwegians who do not have the right to live and work in Norway.
04:30 AM ET: German economy contracted 2.2% in first quarter, steepest slump since 2009
The German economy contracted by 2.2% in the first quarter, its steepest three-month slump since the 2009 financial crisis as shops and factories were shut in March to contain the spread of the coronavirus, preliminary data showed on Friday.
On the year, gross domestic product in Europe's largest economy fell by 2.3% from January to March after a 0.4% expansion in the previous three months, seasonally adjusted figures from the Federal Statistics Office showed.
03:05 AM ET: London's Canary Wharf draws up plans to reopen the financial district - FT
London's Canary Wharf has drawn up detailed plans to bring bankers, accountants and lawyers back to the financial district as the coronavirus pandemic eases, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
The plans include introducing one-way routes, to daily deep cleaning, limiting lift capacity and removing soft furnishings, the newspaper said, with the new guidance set to be issued to tenants this week.
02:55 AM ET: Baltic states open borders to each other
The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia opened their borders to each other at the stroke of midnight, creating the first "travel bubble" within the European Union and possibly the world.
01:36 AM ET: HSBC cuts bleak global growth forecasts further
Europe's biggest bank, HSBC has cut already bleak global growth forecasts even further, as lockdown restrictions extended through April and tentative economic re-openings drag on a return to business, trade and spending.
The bank lowered its 2020 global gross domestic product forecast to a contraction of 4.8%. It had forecast a 3.3% contraction for the year in early April.
01:11 AM ET: China goes a month without any new coronavirus-linked deaths
China has gone a month without announcing any new deaths from the coronavirus, AP reports.
The National Health Commission reported four new cases of the virus Friday, all local cross-infections in the northeastern province of Jilin where a cluster of uncertain origin has been detected in recent days. The last time the commission reported a death was on 14 April.
01:06 AM ET: South Korea, China and Japan to discuss coronavirus campaign
The health ministers of South Korea, China and Japan will get together by video conference on Friday to discuss ways to work together in the global campaign against the novel coronavirus, South Korean officials said.
The meeting is the first between top health officials of the East Asian neighbours since the outbreak emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
01:02 AM ET: Airline industry to take time to recover - Southwest CEO
The airline industry is not likely to recover to pre-coronavirus levels for at least the next six to 12 months, Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a virtual halt in air travel, leading to an unprecedented number of flight cancellations globally and forcing airlines to book hefty losses.
00:57 AM ET: Home sales in Singapore fall to lowest level in nearly six years
Home sales in Singapore fell to the lowest in almost six years in April after a partial lockdown imposed early that month brought the property market to a standstill.
The number of apartments sold slumped 58% to 277 last month, versus 660 units in March, according to Urban Redevelopment Authority data released Friday.
10:09 PM ET: China reports mixed data on industrial production and retail sales
China reported a 3.9% increase in April industrial production year-on-year, exceeding analyst forecasts of 1.5% prepared by Invsting.com.
The country also reported a 7.5% decrease in April retail sales year-on year, against forecasts of a 7% drop.
10:06 PM ET: FDA slaps inaccuracy warning on Abbot’s COVID-19 test kit.
The FDA said that Abbbot’s ID NOW point-of-care test kit to diagnose COVID-19 could potentially give false negative results. Although the test can still be used and identify positive cases correctly, the body suggested that negative results be reconfirmed with a high sensitivity authorized molecular test.
10:01 PM ET: Lockdowns expected to contribute to record drop in U.S. April retail sales
Lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19 are expected to contribute to a record drop in U.S. April retails sales, as Americans shopped online and for essentials only.
Analyst forecasts prepared by Investing.com predict that sales dropped by 12% month-on-month, the biggest drop since records were started in 1992.
9:54 PM ET: IOC contributes up to $800 million to fight COVID-19, Japan lifts state of emergency in 39 out of 47 prefectures
The International Olympic Committee has set aside $800 million to assist Japan with payments and loans linked to COVID-19 in the aftermath of its postponement of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted the state of emergency for 39 of the country’s 47 prefectures earlier than scheduled with decreasing number of cases. The government will evaluate the remaining prefectures next week whether the declaration can be lifted before its May 31 end date. But Abe did not lift the state of emergency for Tokyo and Osaka.
9:49 PM ET: Number of Brazilian cases surpasses 200,000
Brazil reported a daily record high of 13,944 new cases on May 14, as President Jair Bolsonaro planned to lift lockdowns in Sao Paulo. Johns Hopkins University data said that the country had 202,918 confirmed cases and 13,993 deaths as of May 15.