COVID-19

SINGAPORE - A SARS outbreak caused the closing of Singapore's largest wholesale vegetable market this week, and a quarantine of all of its 2,400 workers.

NEW YORK - The Iraqi War, cold weather, a late Easter, and the recession all contributed to weak March sales for leading retailers, including Wal-Mart, Sears, Federated Department Stores, and J.C. Penney Co.

TORONTO - Grocery Gateway Inc., an online grocer based here, is responding to fears over the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) by ordering its drivers to wear gloves and forbidding them from entering customers' homes.

HONG KONG - An April Fool's Day rumor started by a 14-year-old schoolboy that the city of Hong Kong was being declared an "infected area" and shut down because of SARS disease, sparked a wild rush on supermarkets, according to reports.

NEW YORK - Sales at U.S. chain stores fell for most of March as consumers stayed close to home and away from malls to watch the evolving war in Iraq, according to a Reuters report.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.- The NPD Group, Inc.-- Though many consumers are curbing discretionary spending to factors ranging from rising gas prices to war worries, they are least likely to alter their spending on products affecting their appearance like cosmetics, skincare, and apparel, according to findings from a recent consumer survey by The NPD Group.

WASHINGTON -- Fourth-quarter gross domestic product rose at an unrevised 1.4 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

WASHINGTON - The Agriculture Department on Tuesday told food processors and farmers to increase security in light of the heightened terror alert.