CNBC World News

Stricter social-distancing measures imposed after a flare up in coronavirus cases will dampen prospects of an economic recovery in Hong Kong, some economists said.

China's factory activity expanded in July for the fifth month in a row and at a faster pace, beating analysts' expectations.

Most economists, including those at the White House, have been expecting that the brutal numbers would turn around in the third quarter. Those expectations are being tempered.

The Federal Communications Commission declared on Thursday that Amazon may build its ambitious satellite internet system.

Huawei is in the middle of a confrontation between the United States and China for global technological dominance.

Alphabet's Q2 earnings are expected to be hit hard by the effects of the pandemic alongside a maturing digital ad market.

"Keeping them out of school and keeping work closed is causing death also. Economic harm, but it's causing death for different reasons, but death. Probably more death," President Donald Trump said.

The company beat on both the top and bottom lines.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday said there is no timetable for when employees will return to the company's offices amid a continuing surge in Covid-19 cases in the U.S.

Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri didn't expand on the topic, but Apple sometimes announces new iPhones in September and then sells them later.

Amazon's cloud unit faced slower growth than ever before in the second quarter, with some customers getting hit especially hard by the pandemic.

More than 150,000 reservations have been made for the upcoming two- or four-door SUV, far surpassing Ford's initial expectations, according to executives.

Atlassian is offering discounts to persuade customers to to make the transition to its cloud products.

The shares will be distributed to shareholders at the close of business on August 24, and trading will begin on a split-adjusted basis on August 31.

As of Thursday's close, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook were collectively worth $4.9 trillion. The companies will likely surpass $5.1 trillion as of Friday's open, taking into account Thursday's after-hours gains.

Facebook has seen an increase in user engagement as a result of the coronavirus, but has also endured an ad boycott that may crimp revenue.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed lower as investors digested a record-setting drop in U.S. economic activity.

Comcast's NBCUniversal division took some hits in the second quarter as advertisers pulled back spending and theme parks had to shut down entirely.

Apple saw widespread retail closures during the quarter, especially in the United States, but previously touted both work-from-home trends and strong online sales as delivering a boost to overall operations.

"We have said it before and we will say it again, young people are not invincible," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference.