The economic earthquake the coronavirus has unleashed is likely to trigger a wave of corporate distress and bankruptcy unseen in years.

Stay-at-home orders and the shutdown of nonessential business have driven broad swaths of the economy into panic mode, ending a long period of calm as markets rose and cheap capital abounded. In industries that were already in a precarious position before the crisis, including retail and energy, the pandemic has tipped many companies over the edge. A host of oil companies have sought chapter...