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"When interest rates are low, it is likely to be difficult for some banks and building societies to reduce deposit rates much further, which in turn could limit their ability to cut their lending rates," the Bank of England admits. So it has set up a funding scheme to help out.

It should provide more than £100bn of funding to banks at rates close to the new bank rate - 0.25% - said the central bank. And that should mean cheaper loans for businesses.

There's been an emergency cut in interest rates in the face of coronavirus by 0.5% to 0.25% - the joint lowest in history.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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There is speculation that Bank of England governor Mark Carney could cut interest rates to help support the economy in the face of coronavirus (see previous post).

The next official opportunity for the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)to cut rates is 26 March, so will the Bank wait until then to make a move?

On the Today programme, Karen Ward, JP Morgan strategist and former special adviser to Philip Hammond, was asked if the MPC would wait until its next meeting.

"Quite possibly not. We've already seen an emergency cut from the Fed. The Bank of England may want to follow suit." However, sh added: "I find it hard to see them go today.

"If the chancellor has announced an enormous spending package it would be "questionable" that the Bank of England would cut rates at the same time.

"So perhaps not today, but yes maybe we won't have to wait for too long."

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Cathay Pacific said it expects a "substantial" loss in the first half of this year as the impact of the coronavirus takes it toll.

The Hong Kong carrier also saw a 28% drop in 2019 profits as it struggled during the city's political protests. The airline is now battling with the fallout of the outbreak as passenger numbers plummet.

The first half of 2020 is "expected to be extremely challenging financially," said chairman Patrick Healy. Calling 2019 a "turbulent year", Mr Healy said he expects "our passenger business to be under severe pressure this year and that our cargo business will continue to face headwinds".

While Cathay Pacific has reduced flights to help save costs, "we expect to incur a substantial loss for the first half of 2020," he added.

BBC Radio 5 Live

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On Wake up to Money, Josie Dent, senior economist at the Centre for Business and Economic Research (CEBR), was asked how coronavirus would damage the UK economy.

She said the CEBR had an estimate of what the impact on the economy would be if London shut down and everybody had to work from home.

"We think it would cost the London economy alone, £0.5bn a day if the City went into lockdown."

But, she added, she expected the government to give an estimate on Wednesday of what it expects the impact to be.

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One of the world's biggest music festivals has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Coachella was set to take place next month in the California desert with Rage Against the Machine and Frank Ocean among the headliners.

The event's organiser has now postponed it until October, at the request of local health authorities.

Read more here

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Google's parent company Alphabet has asked its North American staff to work from home to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus.

Alphabet is the latest company to make such an announcement as US coronavirus cases have risen to almost 1,000.

Last week, Google, along with many of the world's other major tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook, began recommending that staff in Seattle should work from home as the coronavirus spreads in Washington state. The state had more than 160 cases as of Monday night.

Read more here

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The Guardian reports that speculation is mounting that Mark Carney will use his final week as governor of the Bank of England to to announce a "dramatic" package of support for the British economy to help it through the coronavirus outbreak".

The paper says the Bank could announce an immediate cut in interest rates, and ease borrowing conditions for high street banks, to coincide with the Budget on Wednesday.

Read the Guardians full story here, external

BBC Radio 5 Live

The big question on Wake up to Money is what business wants to hear from Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Helen Wong is a director of Sweet Mandarin restaurant in Manchester and is also a small business lawyer at the firm Charles Russell Speechlys.

She tells presenter Sean Farrington that business is "tough"

"Sentiment is cautious, understandably. We're thankful we've got Deliveroo."

They're seeing fewer groups visiting their cookery school and the restaurant.

She would like to see a cut in National Insurance Contributions in the Budget.

"If we're going to get less customers we're going to have less people in the office or in the business."

She didn't want to lay off staff, she said, and a cut in NIC's would help to pay for the headcount. "It would give us a lifeline."

She's also keen for a cut in business rates and other taxes to give "breathing room" from taxes.

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Asian shares have fallen on growing concerns about US plans for a stimulus package to fight the coronavirus outbreak took the edge off an earlier rally.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 2%, Hang Seng in Hong Kong was 0.8% higher, and China's Shanghai Composite was 0.6% lower.

Welcome to Wednesday's Business Live page.

Coming up later, new Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his first Budget, after just a few weeks in the job.

It's the first Budget since 2018 and some elements have already been revealed, including more money for infrastructure projects and extra money for potholes. However, inevitably it looks set to be dominated by the coronavirus outbreak.

Wednesday's papers are dominated by headlines speculating that the chancellor will use "Budget billions to beat the virus" (Daily Mail) or "Coronavirus budget to shore up NHS and head off financial crisis", (The Guardian).

We'll be following events throughout the day, so do stay with us for all the news as it breaks, plus the all important analysis.