Glaxosmithkline, led by Emma Walmsley (pictured) and Astrazeneca both revealed a surge in first-quarter sales. Walmsley warned vaccines are not likely to become available for more than a year.

The FTSE 100 index rose 156.75 points to 6115.25, closing above the 6000 mark for the first time since early March, despite data showing the US economy shrank 4.8 per cent in the first quarter.

Amazon is expected to report profits of more than £7500 a second, meaning founder Jeff Bezos (pictured with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez) has added billions of dollars to his personal fortune.

Shareholders are to receive around a two-thirds cut in their dividend payments covering the last three months of 2019, from 47 cents per share to 16 cents.

Last year Shell was the most generous dividend payer in the UK, handing pension funds and investors £11.6bn.That amounted to 15.5 per cent of all payments made by FTSE 100 firms.

The US social media group said 14m more users are using its platform every day compared to a year ago, taking the total number to 166m.

Just days after British Airways warned of 12,000 job cuts, business only expect to recover slowly as workers and consumers stay home and social distancing measures are put in place.

Laxman Narasimhan, chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, said sales of condoms had been hit in the UK and Italy - but not in China, where restrictions are being lifted.

The pandemic could result in 257,000 fewer vehicles rolling off production lines this year, after output plunged by almost 38 per cent last month, an industry report predicted.

Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, has been closed since March 24 as part of a government clampdown, requiring people to stay indoors to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Stephen Lansdown found the company's stock was so sought after that, when he launched his latest sale of shares, he had to increase the amount up for grabs twice.

The bank, led by chief exec Antonio Horta-Osori (pictured), which is the UK's biggest mortgage provider and one of the largest lenders to small businesses, has handed out just.

As the economic toll of lockdown starts to rear its ugly head, employment, new orders and output in the sector fell at the fastest pace for 28 years last month.

The billionaire, 48, made the comment yesterday in a string of tweets that also saw him reveal he was selling all of his possessions and demand that authorities give people back 'their freedom'.

Sam Fischer spent £479,000 exercising options to buy 28,000 shares at 1709p. He later sold the stock at 2663p, netting £267,000. Diageo's market value has fallen 14 per cent this year.

The fast food business's 1,350 restaurants have been closed since the Government brought in lockdown measures in March due to concerns over staff and customer safety.

Insurers have come under fire for refusing to pay out claims to companies which have been devastated by the lockdown. The Financial Conduct Authority plans to resolve this as quickly as possible.

RBS, which is changing its name to Natwest later this year, said the loss provisions dragged profit down by almost 50 per cent to £519m in the first three months of 2020.

The Cambridge-based software firm will create a 'strategy' title based on the hugely successful fantasy series that will be released on computer and game consoles such as Xbox and Playstation.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou urged them to back his bid to oust four directors at a meeting on May 22 as he thinks the order is a waste of money with the balance sheet already under threat from coronavirus.

More than 300 listed companies have cut or cancelled payouts as they battle to survive. It is now feared that total dividend payments will fall from £98.5 billion last year to just £47.2 billion this year.

According to the FTSE All-World Index, which measures the performance of thousands of companies around the world, global stocks grew at their highest monthly level in nine years.

Sunweb is said to have initially offered customers a full refund by March 31 after Tomorrowland Winter at the French resort Alpe d'Huez, was called off because of the coronavirus.

The firm said that closing its stores in March has had a 'material impact' on trading and the company has initiated a 'broad range of actions to manage its costs and cash flow'.

The IHS Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index gave a reading of 33.4 in April - significantly below the 50 mark which indicates activity was flat.

In an indictment of the failure of the Government's original aid schemes to help many businesses, lenders received tens of thousands of applications for the new 'Bounce Back' loans within hours.

The US fashion brand's lenders will inject £322m of cash and take control of the chain at the same time as cancelling its debt. The preppy brand counts Meghan Markle among its high profile fans.

Carnival has been asked to give all the documents relating to the pandemic and its response to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The engineer needs to shore up its finances after global air travel was brought virtually to a standstill by the coronavirus pandemic.

The tie-up would transform the telecoms market overnight, creating a powerhouse to challenge former state monopoly BT.

The former FTSE 100 hospitals provider crashed into administration after a series of extraordinary revelations, including that it was harbouring billions of pounds in secret debt.

Staff were asked to go into closed stores once a week and pack up stock so it could be sold online, but were told not to clock in, whistleblowers told the Guardian newspaper.

William Hill is benefiting to the tune of over £30m per month from the wage subsidy scheme and the business rates holiday, while Paddy Power is saving £400,000 per month in business rates.

Virgin blamed the 'severe impact' of coronavirus, which has prompted travel restrictions and forced airlines to ground fleets, and it comes just days after BA said it could also leave.

The Financial Reporting Council has found most accounting firms are failing to assess whether their audits of major companies are any good until after they have already published them.

The insurance giant said it would sell up to 58m shares, which at last night's price of 692.4p would be worth £400m, collecting the money so it could 'respond to future growth opportunities'.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme is looking at claims from 12,000 savers who bought so-called mini bonds from LCF and were left high and dry when the company collapsed.

The British telecoms giant has long been seen as a potential suitor for broadband provider Virgin after it previously held unsuccessful takeover talks with parent Liberty Global.

Serial investor Vin Murria, an adviser at Hgcapital, bought 13.25 per cent of the AIM-listed company's shares on April 30, according to a stock market announcement yesterday.

Vue boss Tim Richards is 'hopeful' that venues can be open in time for the release date of Nolan's new film, Tenet (starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, pictured) on July 17.

The online grocer awarded a £58m pay packet to chief executive Tim Steiner last year, and will give him a bonus of up to £100m over five years if its share price continues to rise.

The group admitted that around 12,000 of its credit card customers, or 1.2 per cent, were already seriously in arrears by three months or more before the pandemic.

The grocer said its decision to stop people ordering bottled mineral water helped it complete 6,000 extra orders a week.

The Lloyd's of London insurer was a top FTSE 250 riser after placing the 57.6m shares, priced at 650p. This was 6 per cent cheaper than its share price the day before the fundraising launched.

Just hours after the online grocer revealed sales have jumped more than 40 per cent in the last five weeks, it emerged that 29.7 per cent of investors had voted against top pay at the company.

The US giant said it will reopen its Shanghai Disneyland park on May 11 but severely limit the number of guests and enforce strict social distancing measures on rides and in restaurants.

Chief executive Philip Jansen, who recently recovered from Covid-19, said a new target of full fibre to 20 million homes by the mid to late 2020s is now in place.

FTSE 100 closed up 1.4 per cent or 82.22 points at 5,935.98 and the pound was at $1.23 against the dollar.

The FTSE-listed group will struggle after the number of hours its engines spent flying in April fell by 90 per cent. Across the first four months of the year, flying hours dropped 40 per cent.

Does it really make sense for pensioners who, directly or indirectly, rely on their income from dividends to have those incomes further cut by Bank of England diktat?