Australia's worst-hit state of Victoria appears to be curbing a virus outbreak after a week of tougher restrictions, authorities said Wednesday, with new cases falling in recent days even as fatalities topped records.

Australia's Commonwealth Bank (CBA) reported an 11.3-percent drop in full-year cash profits Wednesday as it took provisions against loan losses due to the coronavirus crisis.

Stock markets surged Tuesday on optimism that lawmakers in Washington will hammer out a new stimulus package for the crippled American economy, while concerns about the U.S.-China trade pact eased.

Approaching the half-way stage, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 2.5 percent.

Wall Street stocks inched higher early Tuesday after big gains in the prior session as markets eyed stimulus negotiations in Washington and brittle U.S.-China relations.

The European Commission launched an "in-depth investigation" on Tuesday into whether U.S. tech giant Google's planned $2.1 billion purchase of smartwatch maker Fitbit would give it an unfair market advantage.

Ford announced Tuesday that Jim Hackett would resign as chief executive and be replaced by longtime auto executive Jim Farley as the car giant pushes further into digital and electric investment.

With skilled fingers, disabled Gazan couple Nihad and Zeinab Jarboa have supported themselves by sewing finely detailed dolls and costumes, but coronavirus has hurt their already meager income.

US President Donald Trump gave popular Chinese-owned video app TikTok six weeks to sell its US operations to an American company, saying Monday it would be "out of business" otherwise, and that the government wanted a financial benefit from the deal.

HSBC on Monday said profits for the first half of 2020 plunged by 69 percent on year as the banking giant was hammered by the coronavirus pandemic and spiralling China-US tensions.

For Gabriel Gordon and his wife Lena, the small restaurant they opened 14 years ago in the coastal California town of Seal Beach was a dream project and the cornerstone of their future success.