When to Restart the Economy?

The markets rallied on news that an agreement was in sight, recording their biggest one-day percentage gain since the 1930s yesterday. The rise pushed the SP 500 back to levels seen … last Friday.

• Chaotic markets haven’t been kind to quant funds, investment firms that rely on number-crunching algorithms to generate big returns in both good times and bad. The FT and Bloomberg show how the wild market swings of recent weeks proved too much for the machines to handle.

Inside American Airlines’ fight for survival

As carriers await aid from Washington, David Gelles of the NYT talked with executives of American Airlines. The mood inside the company: fearful and frantic.

The airline is canceling 40 percent of its flights each day, and the flights that it is running — which carry just a few people — cost thousands of dollars each trip. Middle seats are blocked off to promote social distancing, planes are being sprayed regularly with antivirus chemicals, and first-class service no longer includes hot towels or nuts.

The company said last week that it had secured $1 billion in financing and $8.4 billion in total available liquidity. To save money, it has shut off coffee and water service in break rooms and is cannibalizing parked planes for repair parts.

“This is scary,” José Freig, who’s overseeing American’s coronavirus response team, told David. A bailout from Washington will help, executives said, but a fear of traveling could haunt American — and the whole airline industry — for a long time.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/business/dealbook/trump-coronavirus-easter.html