Good morning. Many companies in recent months raised billions of dollars in new debt in the bond market, taking advantage of low funding costs and high investor demand.

Finance chiefs used the additional capital to bolster their companies’ balance sheet, pay down credit lines or replace older debt following interventions by the U.S. Federal Reserve to stabilize financial markets. Most didn’t, however, use the funds to invest in their businesses, according to a recent study of about 9,500 bond sales by Columbia Business School.

[Continued below…]

“We find that a lot of issuers issue earlier in their cash cycle than usual, are in sectors that are not the most affected by Covid [and] use the proceeds to hoard cash or repay debt, not invest in their operations,” said Olivier Darmouni, an associate professor for finance and economics at Columbia Business School and one of the authors of the study.

As a result, the bond market recovery between March and the end of June—the period the researchers analyzed—is unlikely to result in a “V-shaped” recovery in the broader economy, the study said.

Mastercard, Boeing, United Parcel Service and Amgen are among the companies scheduled to release earnings today.

Power company Southern California Edison told state regulators that its equipment may have ignited one of a pair of fast-moving wildfires in Orange County, Calif., that have prompted evacuation orders for 80,000 people.

The Silverado Fire, which broke out early Monday, has consumed more than 11,000 acres of tinder-dry brush in the foothills above Irvine and other cities south of Los Angeles. The inferno had caused minimal property destruction as of midday Tuesday, but two firefighters were in critical condition after suffering burns.

• Amazon.com plans to hire 100,000 seasonal workers in the U.S. and Canada heading into the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
   
• Raytheon Technologies said it is cutting 20,000 jobs this year—up from a previously announced 15,000—as it adjusts to the shrinking airline industry and the sharp drop in jetliner orders and deliveries. 
   
• Advanced Micro Devices plans to buy rival chip maker Xilinx Inc. in a $35 billion deal.
   
• Rent the Runway is raising a new round of financing and is focusing on selling clothes, not just renting them, after the startup suffered a near-fatal blow from the pandemic.
   
• Twitter’s Jack Dorsey: A Hands-Off CEO in a Time of Turmoil
• Etsy Bet on Face Masks. So Far It Is Paying Off.

Big manufacturers are logging lower sales to businesses ranging from cruise-ship builders to medical offices, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to drag on economic activity across the globe.

• Microsoft posted another quarter of strong earnings fueled by pandemic-era demand for cloud-computing services, videogaming and computers.
   
• Eli Lilly reported lower-than-expected quarterly earnings due to pricing pressure on top products, while the drugmaker said it would proceed with plans to introduce a new Covid-19 antibody treatment.
   
• HSBC, Santander Signal Cautious Optimism

The World Trade Organization is set to pick its first female leader in coming days, offering a fresh start to a body weakened by fights between the U.S. and China at a time of global economic crisis.

Consultations among the WTO’s 164 members were due to end on Tuesday on the choice between former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee. In a selection process that isn’t an outright election, the WTO will say as soon as Wednesday which candidate has won broader backing

William Hinman, director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, said he would leave after 3½ years in the job, making him the second division chief to announce plans to leave after the co-director of enforcement departed in August.

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will extend its approval of controversial weedkillers for another five years, a victory for agriculture companies Bayer and BASF. 
   
• Chief executives of the largest social media companies will testify Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Committee in a hearing examining their platforms’ role in shaping political discourse.
   
• Visa’s $5.3 billion deal to buy Plaid, a firm that provides the technological infrastructure underpinning financial apps, is in jeopardy because of antitrust concerns, according to people familiar with the matter.
   
• Beam Suntory has agreed to pay $19.5 million to resolve a criminal probe into bribes the maker of spirits allegedly paid to sell a line of its products in India, the U.S. Justice Department said.
   
• U.S. sanctions over Hong Kong are likely to pose fewer headaches for international banks operating in the financial hub than first feared, lawyers say.

Despite the recent stock-market selloff, investors appear to be positioning for a speedy outcome to the presidential contest and dwindling volatility through the end of the year.

Recent market moves suggest investors are taking their cues from polls showing former Vice President Joe Biden with a steady lead over President Trump, which increases the chances of a decisive victory. They also see a robust fiscal stimulus plan in the cards. 

• U.S. Election Adds to Turkish Lira’s Bumpy Ride
• Cheese Makers Reel as Pandemic Sows Market Chaos

Orders for long-lasting factory goods increased for the fifth consecutive month in September, the latest sign manufacturing companies are rebounding from supply-chain disruptions and shutdowns related to the coronavirus pandemic.

New orders for durable goods—products designed to last at least three years—rose 1.9% in September compared with August, the Commerce Department said.

• Consumers are spending money as if the coronavirus recession is over. But they are also paying down old debts and avoiding new ones in case the pandemic lasts a while.
   
• The World Trade Organization is set to pick its first female leader in coming days, offering a fresh start to a body weakened by fights between the U.S. and China at a time of global economic crisis.

Vattenfall Group AB, the Swedish state-owned utility group, named Kerstin Ahlfont as CFO, effective Nov. 1. Ms. Ahlfont, who joined the company in 1995, was most recently head of human resources.

Follow the CFO Journal team on Twitter: @CFOJournal, @Nina_Trentmann, @markgmaurer and @kcbroughton.

CFO Journal's news editor Nina Trentmann can be reached at nina.trentmann@wsj.com.