The It's Thursday, May 28th, 2020.

This is the Real Vision Daily Briefing.

I'm Ed Harrison.

It's aftermarket close in the UK

and we're going to be joined by our UK-based managing editor Roger Hurst

shortly but first here's Jack Farley with an interesting take on the employment

situation in the US. Thanks Ed. Today marked another dismal day for the American workforce, as the Bureau of Labor reported

that an additional 2.1 million Americans filed unemployment claims over the last week,

raising the total number of claims to

over 40 million. This week's number is 13% lower than it was last week, but it's

870% higher than it was a year ago. The layoffs continue with American Airlines

announcing yesterday its plans to lay off up to 30% of its management and support

staff. That's over 5,000 employees worldwide. Already over 39,000 employees from American Airlines have retired early or been placed on voluntary leave.

And it's very important for American that all of these departures are voluntary, or at least appear to be.

It did after all accept a 4.1 billion dollar grant from Congress in April

of the condition that it not let any of these employees go until September 30th.

Then it got a low interest loan of 1.7

billion dollars on the same condition and it's still trying to get 4.75

billion dollars in additional funding from the Treasury. So that's why American Airlines is trying to have it both ways.

It wants to shore up its balance sheet and reduce head count,

but at the same time, it wants to remain in compliance

with the covenants of its PSP loan.

...