DOWNGRADE. American Airlines badly wants to shake its Covid-19 legacy. The Texas-based airline is selling $5 billion in notes and raising $2.5 billion more by hocking its rewards program to pay the funds it received from the U.S. Treasury Department. Cheap, government-backed cash required the company to issue warrants and carried restrictions on share buybacks and executive compensation. Shortly after taking on the bailout, American’s stock looked close to worthless, according to Breakingviews calculations. Since then, the stock has more than tripled, valuing the carrier at $13 billion. The shares are now just 30% lower than when the pandemic hit. The current deal would remove the restrictions placed by the Treasury, serving as a short-term booster shot for the shares, which gained 6%. Problem is the pandemic isn’t in American’s rearview. The company continued to burn $30 million a day in the fourth quarter. A blip or two with vaccines and taxpayer money at bargain prices could look attractive again. (By Lauren Silva Laughlin)