According to Reuters, businesses are contending with increased costs as supply chain issues continue to disrupt the economy. Companies have struggled to keep up with demand for consumer goods, which soared during the pandemic. Costs include rising prices for raw materials due to halted factory production and backlogs of ships waiting to unload cargo
Bloomberg reports on shifting dynamics in the retail sector caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the transition that certain financial advisory firms have made from advising on liquidating retail assets to sourcing and selling goods at brick-and-mortar retail locations they operate. The article highlights a new off-price department store, Shopper’s Find, that two global financial
CNBC analyzes the Labor Department’s latest jobs report, which showed 850,000 jobs gained in the U.S. in June, much higher than economists expected. The hospitality sector, particularly bars and restaurants, accounted for the largest share of employment gains, with education and professional services also seeing increased employment. The article notes that hiring has accelerated as
Bloomberg Law analyzes how middle-market companies may be unable to address upcoming supply chain disruption shifts, leading to an increase in bankruptcy filings. [Bloomberg Law; June 22, 2021]
The Wall Street Journal discusses how the pandemic altered retail shopping habits, and the anticipated closure by 2025 of half of remaining mall-based retailers. [WSJ; June 25,
As Texas recovers from its winter energy crisis, hard hit consumers and retail power providers may be facing potential bankruptcies caused by the extreme price fluctuations experienced during the cold. The New York Times describes the plight faced by consumers who may face energy bills in the thousands. And retail power companies that supplied power
Bloomberg confirms that 2020 was the biggest year for large commercial bankruptcies since the Great Recession in 2009. Led by the energy, retail, and consumer services sectors, 224 companies with liabilities exceeding $50 million filed Chapter 7 and 11 cases, far exceeding the number of large filings each year in the preceding decade. Bloomberg also
As reported in Yahoo Finance, the first trading day of 2021 was off to a rocky start in the U.S. Despite progress on COVID vaccine distribution, markets reacted to the discovery of a highly transmissible strain of COVID in the US, which comes with a greater risk of lockdowns, along with uncertainty surrounding the
Reuters reports that the Brazilian government will forgive approximately US$1.3 billion worth of debt owed to it by telecommunications firm Oi SA, which has been involved in a pending bankruptcy proceeding in Brazil since 2016. [Reuters; Nov. 27, 2020]
Reporting from Bloomberg indicates that boutique apparel chain Francesca’s Holdings Corp. is preparing to file for
Reporting from Bloomberg shows that during the first eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately $52 billion of rent under retail leases went unpaid. The reporting further indicates that in many instances, these rent obligations have been deferred through out-of-court agreements between landlords and tenants and that there may be an appetite for further relief
In the November 2020 statement issued by its Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve committed to use the full range of tools available to it to alleviate the economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, the Federal Reserve indicated that it intends to keep the target range for the federal reserve