US corporate bankruptcy lawyers may suddenly have to cancel their summer holidays. They may not object as they have been mostly unoccupied for at least two years.

Even though stock markets have been retreating all year, financial conditions have only tightened markedly of late. The result is that several companies facing a cash or supply chain crunch have not so easily been able to raise fresh rescue capital, money that would have flowed easily at most any point in the last decade.

Lacking liquidity, the likes of Revlon, Scandinavian Airlines and Voyager Digital have been recently forced to hastily file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Their court papers have described just how quickly distress overwhelmed them, providing evidence on how quickly an recession may be approaching.