A good chunk of that upswing likely came from moves by the White House and Federal Reserve to “shore up the wounded economy,” with the Administration now calling for an $850 billion stimulus measure that could include direct cash payments to Americans and the central bank promising to purchase commercial paper to help companies “get the overnight funding they need to meet short-term obligations like payroll” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Law360

Still, don’t be shocked by another dive today – NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch

More on the Fed’s emergency lending program, including why targeting commercial paper means easing liquidity concerns – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg

Some thoughts about what the current coronavirus crisis means for the future of controversial Fed nominee Judy Shelton—she of the central-bank-as-rogue-agency camp – Bloomberg

The devastation that COVID-19 has brought to Italy has only hastened the threat of a long-simmering banking crisis there. Italian banks have been plagued for years by “formidable piles of bad loans,” and the widespread economic impact of the pandemic may help spur action to finally address the problem – NYTimes

Federal authorities are expanding their probe into allegations of Treasury securities and futures contracts market manipulation by JPMorgan traders based on spoofing-like activities, a move that could open “a new, and potentially more complicated, front in the war on spoofing” that’s to this point largely been focused on commodities futures markets – WSJ

SoftBank appears to be walking back earlier commitments to drop $3 billion in bailout funds on co-working startup WeWork. The move “comes as the coronavirus outbreak diminishes demand for the troubled company’s shared office space” – NYTimes and WSJ

HSBC has named Noel Quinn as its permanent CEO. Quinn had been serving in the role in an interim basis for the past 7 months after the Board ousted John Flint – WSJ and Bloomberg

Amazon’s not alone in capitalizing on the current coronavirus crisis. World’s largest retailer Walmart is “poised to supply large swaths of the nation as governments and other businesses grapple to respond to the unprecedented threat,” and it’ll be looking to “leverage its store network and clout with suppliers to gain a leg up” over the ‘zon. – Bloomberg

US District Judge William Young has rejected Exxon Mobil’s attempt to keep in federal court a state AG suit over the company hiding its knowledge of climate change from the public, ruling that the action should be remanded to Suffolk County Superior Court where it was originally filed – Bloomberg and Law360

In what we’re viewing as awfully timely, Costco Wholesale Corp. has paid $1 billion to acquire logistics company Innovel Solutions—Costco’s “largest acquisition since it merged with Price Club in 1993” – WSJ

On the power of exponential growth and acting NOW – NYTimes

Stay safe out there.