Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Wednesday, March 25th,

and this is your F.T. news briefing.

Today, we'll look at the corporate dash for cash

as capital markets cease up.

The debate over whether to close the economy amid coronavirus and an

audacious plan that Japanese conglomerate Softbank explored in response to the market turmoil

of last week. I'm Mark Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.

While American taxpayers and some industries await fiscal support from Washington, companies are already

making a dash for cash.

More than 130 companies in Europe and in the US have drawn at least 124 billion dollars

from their lenders in the past three weeks.

Right as the coronavirus swept much of the Western world.

Those figures come from an analysis the F.T. did of public disclosures.

It's all because more traditional capital markets, think of those

for corporate bonds or short-term commercial paper, have seized up. And companies are turning

to their emergency credit lines to have enough cash to keep up with business.

The figure could top what my colleagues uncovered, since publicly traded companies don't have to

report drawdowns right away.

Privately held groups don't have to announce them at all.

Of the companies they looked at,

GM tapped its banks for the largest amount of its credit facility,

...