Business News

* LME copper resistance now sits at $6,050/t - Saxo Bank (Updates with prices)

A raft of small cap stocks has soared by hundreds of millions of dollars in value in recent weeks as frenzied retail traders piled in to a blistering stocks rally.

U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines on Wednesday forecast a 90% plunge in second-quarter revenue and warned it would need to renegotiate its debt agreements to avoid a default next year.

Investors are betting a weaker U.S. dollar will further boost a rally that has seen stocks, emerging market currencies and other risky assets soar in recent weeks.

As the London Stock Exchange seeks approval for its $27 billion takeover of Refinitiv, uncertainty over the fate of its Italian exchange and bond-trading operations has caused rifts among politicians in Rome, two sources told Reuters.

The S&P 500 and Dow slipped on Wednesday, as losses in financial stocks outweighed a boost from technology, with focus shifting to the Federal Reserve's first projections on the economy since the coronavirus outbreak.

* Just Eat Takeaway bottoms out STOXX 600 (Adds details, updates to close)

European food ordering firm Just Eat Takeaway.com NV said on Wednesday it was in advanced talks to buy Grubhub Inc in an all-stock deal that, if completed, would create the world's largest food delivery company by revenue.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on Wednesday it had launched a $10 million fund to support the work of organizations addressing racial injustice, structural inequity and economic disparity.

U.S. airlines carried 3 million passengers in April, a staggering 96% decline from April 2019 amid the coronavirus pandemic and flight restrictions, the Transportation Department said on Wednesday.

Britain's competition regulator has given itself two more months to make a final ruling on Amazon's purchase of a minority stake in online delivery group Deliveroo so it can take full account of representations from all interested parties.

Boeing Co is aiming to conduct a key certification test flight on its grounded 737 MAX in late June, two people briefed on the matter said.

Oil fell more than 2% to below $41 a barrel on Wednesday after U.S. data showed crude inventories rose to a record high, reviving worries of a persistent glut due to weak demand during the lingering coronavirus crisis.

Lawyers bringing a case before the World Court accusing Myanmar of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority have asked a U.S. district court to order Facebook to release posts and communications of the country's military and police.

U.S. consumer prices fell for a third straight month in May and underlying inflation was weak as demand for goods and services remained subdued amid a recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday it would bring forward by two months human trials of its potential COVID-19 vaccine to the second half of July, as the drugmaker rushes to develop a shot for the contagious respiratory disease.

The Federal Reserve completes its latest policy meeting on Wednesday with attention turning from its massive response to the coronavirus pandemic and toward its still-developing plans to strengthen and lengthen a nascent economic recovery.

* Dow down 0.71%, S&P dips 0.31%, Nasdaq up 0.54% (Adds quote; Updates prices)

The Mexican unit of U.S. retailer Walmart said on Wednesday a shareholder meeting would discuss the absorption of two internal units, Holding de Restaurantes y Servicios and Tiendas Wal-Mart.

Emirates laid off more pilots and cabin crew on Wednesday in a second day of redundancies at one of the world's biggest long-haul airlines, three company sources said.