CNBC Top Stories

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading on Friday.

Goldman economists had expected a decline of 5% in the second quarter, but they said social distancing measures have affected many sectors and will hit hard.

Bundlers helping to raise campaign cash for Joe Biden are encouraging potential new donors to contribute now.

The retailer is paying bonuses of $250 to $1,500 to 20,000 hourly employees who oversee store departments.

Seven days after the Trump administration said people would get a break on their student loans as the coronavirus tears across the country, closing down businesses and spiking unemployment, the companies that service federal student loans and the U.S. Department of Education are still grappling with how to implement the interest waiver.

As New York City considers "shelter in place" rules and the number of coronavirus cases skyrockets, wealthy New Yorkers fleeing the city are driving up the prices of rentals in the Hamptons and Hudson Valley.

World Health Organization officials are holding a press conference to update the public on the coronavirus outbreak.

Microsoft, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Illumina and other companies are partnering on a project to map out how the human immune system responds to the virus. Most efforts, they say, are focused on the biology of the virus.

"Can you imagine what it means for this country to just have three retailers?" CNBC's Jim Cramer said.

Accountants are celebrating a 90-day reprieve on filing income tax returns from 2019. If you're due a refund, you should get your return in now. Here's why it pays to act.

"The virus was created by nature, but the failed response was created by decisions we made," former Obama administration official Ron Klain said.

Some Kraft Heinz factories are working three shifts a day to meet increased demand for its products as stockpiling for the coronavirus pandemic has left many grocery store shelves bare.

As congressional lawmakers work on an economic stimulus package in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, critics say any corporation that gets federal aid should be banned from future stock buybacks. Here's what the practice is and why it generates criticism.

Thus far, the central bank has limited its efforts to Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities.

"Hopefully when people realize they have a lot of diapers they'll slow down their purchases," International Paper CEO Mark Sutton told CNBC.

Robert Herjavec, cybersecurity entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" investor, told CNBC that his directive to small businesses is to do whatever it takes to survive.

Small business owners are sending food deliveries, hiring spouses and more to support their workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Indiana will move its 2020 primary to June 2 from the originally planned May 2 in response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Friday.

President Donald Trump ordered the IRS federal income tax filing extension to help deal with the coronavirus pandemic's economic fallout, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

The spring housing market was on its way to becoming the strongest in over a decade, but it will likely turn sharply lower, as the economy shuts down in the face of the coronavirus.