Decline in China's industrial profits slows in April, outlook still gloomy

BEIJING (Reuters) - Profits at China's industrial firms fell at a slower pace in April, helped by improvements in automobiles and electronics, but the damage wrought by the coronavirus crisis is set to keep the economy and businesses under pressure for most of this year.Earnings fell 4.3% year-on-year to 478.1 billion yuan (54.24 billion pounds) last month, after plunging 34.9% in March, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday. China's economy has shown patchy signs of recovery as it reopens..