The White House and the US airline industry have agreed in principle to a $25 billion bailout after weeks of “haggling” over the terms, including whether the Treasury Department was “effectively turning the grants into loans by requiring repayment.” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
States are going to need a relief package far bigger than that, as tax revenues and tourism spending “vaporizes” even as they’re increasingly taking the lead on battling the pandemic here in the U.S. – NYTimes
As a recession looms, the first of the big bank Q1 earnings reports show institutions like JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America setting aside “billions of dollars each for losses on loans to customers who may soon no longer have the means to repay them” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Speaking of the coming recession, how bad are we talking? The IMF, for one, says to buckle up – NYTimes and WSJ
A second wave of virus-related layoffs is definitely not helping the cause – WSJ and Bloomberg
So how’s Wall Street dealing with all of this nastiness? Largely by ignoring it, at least in recent days. [Not a great sign, by the way] – Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Harder to ignore during these downturns are long-term fraudulent schemes that suddenly have nowhere to hide. Keep an eye out for 2020’s Madoff and his ilk – Law360
COVID-19’s adverse effects on the travel and entertainment industry appear to be trickling down to digital ad giants Facebook and Google, with analysts expecting a decline in their annual ad revenues for the first time ever. And, if even the behemoths are stumbling, you know we’re taking a disaster-level scenario for the “rest of the digital advertising industry” – NYTimes
NBCUniversal’s rolling out something of a soft opening for its Peacock streaming service, which it will provide for free to roughly 10 million Xfinity cable subscribers starting later today. The service will be available to the broader public beginning in July. The early rollout means less original content than originally planned (at this time, at least) – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is asking to push back her impending criminal trial to 2021 based on news from prosecutors “that they plan to file more charges and allegations against her in a superseding indictment,” and she also threw in some COVID-19-related fodder for the Court for good measure – Law360
Obviously aware that nothing that was a given just months ago is even viable these days, the fine folks at the Times travel section have put together a new “52 Places to [virtually] Go” edition. What is it, Wednesday? Might as well give it a whirl – NYTimes