American Airlines is pushing forward with plans to furlough 19,000 workers this fall, even as the airline industry lobbies a stalemated Congress for another multi-billion dollar bailout. That figure, “when combined with the thousands of employees who have taken buyout packages or agreed to take long-term leave,” will leave the airline with at least 40,000 fewer workers than before Covid hit, a staggering decline of roughly 30% of its workforce – NYTimes and WSJ

Bit of a mixed bag for Epic Games in its App Store-related battle with Apple after N.D. Cal. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Epic “can maintain access to the tech giant’s software-development tools,” though its “blockbuster videogame [Fortnite], for now, would remain out of the App Store” – WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Law360

Ant Group’s recent filing laying the groundwork for its coming IPO has for the first time shed light on the financials of Jack Ma’s fintech giant, and whoa Nellie, Ant’s not messing around – WSJ and Law360

After drugmaker Teva Pharmaceuticals “rebuffed a settlement that would have required paying a criminal penalty and admitting wrongdoing,” federal prosecutors are prepping criminal antitrust charges against the company over allegations that it conspired “with competitors to raise prices for generic drugs” – Bloomberg and WSJ and Law360

The Treasury Department has found that Vietnam “depressed its currency in 2019,” a determination that “will open the door to tariffs on tires” from the country—the “first test case” of a White House initiative to levy tariffs on countries for alleged currency manipulation – WSJ

Amazon signaled its focus on an expansion to India by opening its largest office building in the world in Hyderabad, “a city of nearly 10 million in India’s south,” and an emerging “technology and financial center and a beacon for young talent” – NYTimes

The latest in the McDonald’s/Easterbrook saga includes the chain now investigating whether its former CEO “covered up improprieties by other McDonald’s employees” and taking a closer look at its entire human resources department – Bloomberg and WSJ

Difficult but necessary read here from the Times (featuring my former colleague, Abena) about racial discrimination in the home appraisal business – NYTimes

Clearly inspired by customer requests for payment leniency in recent months, lenders have begun including promises from new mortgage borrowers that “they don’t intend to seek forbearance, a move meant to keep losses low during a pandemic that has put millions of Americans on shaky financial footing” – WSJ

If, like me, you’re one of the few people that actually looks forward to a good Ikea wander, this new online catalog archive from the Swedish furniture giant will do the trick as you wait for the big blue box to reopen to in-person shoppers – Bloomberg

Stay safe.