| Welcome to Wall Street Insider, where we take you behind the scenes of the finance team's biggest scoops and deep dives from the past week. If you aren't yet a subscriber to Wall Street Insider, you can sign up here. The new WFH reality (for some) Local governments across the US are moving to keep people inside to combat the spread of the coronavirus, and many non-essential businesses are closing to customers. Wall Street quickly ditched its rotating, color-coded teams for many. Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade are suspending in-person branch visits, while Bank of America will keep branches and call centers open with pay bumps and shorter hours for some workers. And the CRO of Refinitiv says the coronavirus could permanently alter how the $27 billion data giant employs staff and serves clients. As Casey Sullivan reports, many of private equity's big bets last year centered on one idea: getting people out of the house. But now, the leisure and hospitality industries have been hit hard, and PE firms are looking at providing portfolio companies with cash during the downturn. Read the full story here: Basis trade blowups Billionaire Michael Platt's BlueCrest Capital cut at least 10 portfolio managers after the firm was slammed by losses in its relative-value book last week, Bradley Saacks and Dakin Campbell reported. And BlueCrest was not the only hedge fund hit hard by this type of trade, which seeks to take advantage of differences in similar types of securities. Read the full story here: Putting out fires — from home
As Dakin, Meghan Morris, and Alex Morrell report, Wall Street's dealmakers are hunkering down and settling in to WFH for the foreseeable future. Bankers told them about the challenges of this dispersed work, from keeping clients engaged to kids making cameo appearances on video conference calls. Read the full story here: Goldman Sachs teams up with SAP
Goldman Sachs just announced the first partner for its fledgling transaction-banking business, inking a deal to handle cross-border payments for clients of SAP, the German enterprise tech giant. And as Dakin reports, this tie-up wasn't exactly out of the blue: Goldman's co-head of global TMT banking helped make the introduction to SAP's top execs. Read the full story here: Movie-theater selfies
With companies revising their forecasts, and governments scrambling to put out up-to-date statistics, more investors are turning to alternative data to gauge the impact of the global spread of the coronavirus. There's nearly endless information to scrape from — when it comes to movie theaters, for example, tracking status updates, comments, and even selfies is a way to gauge attendance levels. Read the full story here: 'This is uncharted territory for us all'
Wealth advisers and the wider wealth management industry around the US are trying to calm clients' nerves, from home, as asset classes of all stripes crash and economists come out with recession calls. Insiders told Rebecca Ungarino how they're taking on the challenge. Read the full story here: Real estate and retail
Alex Nicoll and Meghan Morris reported on Friday that Brookfield-backed Convene just laid off 20% of its workforce as the coronavirus upends flex-space and events. And a leaked memo reveals that Mattress Firm will be putting some staff on furlough and suspending PTO, severance, and 401(k) match as the coronavirus crisis hits retailers. Meanwhile, hospitality startup Sonder is planning to open its largest NYC apartment hotel yet later this year even as coronavirus cripples the travel industry. Other must-reads from the finance team: Real-estate services giant JLL explains how the coronavirus could usher in a permanent 'paradigm shift' towards more remote work Worse than the 2007 'Quant Quake': Huge quant names like Schonfeld and Bridgewater are getting slammed as market chaos blows up computer-driven trades Markets are going haywire. Billionaire Seth Klarman explained in his legendary, out-of-print book why he never listens to the market, and you shouldn't either. We talked to 14 private-equity insiders about how they're planning to play the coronavirus turmoil. They identified 2 huge opportunities. Companies make hundreds of billions of dollars selling data tracking where you go and what you buy — here's how one app lets you get a slice of the profits Ken Griffin's Citadel has sprouted a sprawling alumni network of more than 80 hedge funds. Here's our exclusive list. Billionaire Lee Ainslie is looking to 'take advantage of the panic and volatility' — and his $9 billion hedge fund firm is placing bets on managed care and tech stocks Commodity funds are shining as stocks tank, while momentum strategies are getting pummeled. Here's the latest data on who's riding out coronavirus chaos the best. Read the 2-page note billionaire Ray Dalio just sent investors laying out his coronavirus game plan An inside look at 'knowledge graphs,' the cutting-edge technology Wall Street is betting on as it assesses market damage from the coronavirus | 