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J.Crew Group Inc. said yesterday that it expects to emerge from chapter 11 in early September, after a bankruptcy court accepted its restructuring plan, Reuters reported. The plan, approved by a Virginia federal court, will equitize over $1.6 billion of secured debt, and provide for $400 million in asset-based loan as well as $400 million of fresh financial aid. The company was pressured by the virus outbreak to temporarily close its nearly 500 J. Crew, J. Crew Factory and Madewell stores, and also shelve its plans for an initial public offering of its Madewell business. In 2011, J. Crew was taken private by TPG and Leonard Green & Partners in a roughly $3 billion leveraged buyout. Years later in 2017, the retailer avoided bankruptcy in a deal with creditors that reduced total debt and pushed due dates on obligations.

Since the black swan events of the Russian-Saudi supply conflict and COVID-19 collided in early March, the past six months have plummeted oil producers to unforeseen places, according to a Forbes commentary. One of those places is bankruptcy court; and boy has it been busy over the past six months. With the announcement of offshore producer Arena Energy’s bankruptcy late last week the count of North American bankruptcy filings for producers stood at 36 (31 of those have been in the second and third quarter so far this year). In terms of aggregate debt, the industry is near $53 billion for 2020 so far. That puts the upstream segment on the precipice of having the most debt dollars exposed to bankruptcy protection in U.S. history and we still have four months to go. Some industry insiders are hearing that around 60-70 additional producers may file before year-end, meaning that a wave of companies are on this precipice. If that is the case, then chapter 11 records will be left in the dust very shortly, according to the commentary. That appears to be a monumental shift for six months of depressed prices, but it is important to remember that at around $50 per barrel (where oil had been most of the year prior) some upstream producers are barely breaking even. So when prices dropped even 15-20 percent, there wasn’t much margin left to work with.

American Airlines warned employees yesterday that it would cut up to 19,000 workers on Oct. 1, saying that there was little sign that the pandemic-induced reluctance to travel was diminishing, the New York Times reported. The airline is looking to cut thousands of flight attendants, pilots, technicians, gate agents and other staff, it said. Including buyouts, retirements and leaves of absence, the company expects to have about 40,000 fewer employees on Oct. 1 than it did before the pandemic, a 30 percent decline in its work force. American is just the latest airline to predict bad news. Earlier this summer, United Airlines said that it could furlough as many as 36,000 employees in the fall. And, on Monday, Delta Air Lines warned that it might have to furlough as many as 1,941 pilots in October, even after nearly as many had accepted buyouts. While weak demand is spurring these announcements, the airlines are also seeking to put pressure on Congress and the Trump administration to strike a deal on another coronavirus stimulus package. Passenger airlines received $25 billion to help pay workers under a March legislative package, with American alone receiving $5.8 billion. Entire sectors, such as live entertainment, hospitality and travel, remain either shut down or severely restricted. And experts warn that the longer the crisis persists, the more lasting the damage will be: Furloughs will turn into permanent job losses, short-term business closures will lead to bankruptcies, and sectors that were relatively insulated from the pandemic will suffer as the public health crisis morphs into a more traditional recession. “This is not a stopgap crisis,” said John Lettieri, president of the Economic Innovation Group, a Washington research organization. “It is a prolonged, deep, far-reaching crisis that is going to challenge the ability of businesses to survive.” Things could get worse in the coming months. Restaurants and other businesses that have been able to shift some operations outdoors will struggle when the weather turns colder. And health experts warn that infections are likely to rise again in the fall and winter. That means businesses have to prepare for the crisis to last well into 2021 — which in many cases will mean further layoffs and cost-cutting.

Nordstrom Inc. reported a bigger-than-expected loss yesterday, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut its stores for about half of the reported quarter and consumers stayed home with little need for designer clothes, Reuters reported. Like many of its peers, Nordstrom suffered from a pandemic-induced months-long closure of its stores across the United States, bringing foot traffic to a standstill. Shoppers staying home to curb the spread of the virus, didn’t find themselves purchasing as much upscale apparel and formal work attire. “We’re confident that we can improve sales trends in the second half of the year and beyond,” said Pete Nordstrom, president and chief brand officer of Nordstrom. “Our inventories are current and in-line, and we’re focused on amplifying relevant categories, brands and trends to meet customers’ changing preferences.” Seattle-based Nordstrom reported a net loss of $255 million, or $1.62 per share, compared with a profit of $141 million, or 90 cents per share, a year earlier.

Bed Bath & Beyond said yesterday that it’s cutting 2,800 jobs at its corporate headquarters and stores — about 5 percent of its overall workforce — as the troubled home goods retailer looks to pivot more of its business online, the Associated Press reported. The company said that the job cuts will save it about $150 million a year, before taxes. The figure represents a portion of the anticipated savings from a corporate restructuring plan announced earlier this year. The Union, N.J.-based company said the action is designed to reduce layers at the corporate level, reposition field operations to better serve customers who are shopping more online, as well as realign technology, its supply network and merchandising teams. The moves build on Bed Bath & Beyond’s recent introduction of services like allowing online shoppers to pickup items in the store or at curbside.

A contentious new fee on U.S. mortgage refinancings has been delayed until Dec. 1, according to the regulator overseeing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Reuters reported. The 0.5 percent fee, aimed at recouping potentially billions of dollars in losses created by the coronavirus pandemic, was originally set to take effect on Sept. 1. The regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, also said the fee would not apply to mortgages worth less than $125,000. Fannie and Freddie had announced the fee earlier this month amid a boom in refinancings as borrowers looked to take advantage of record-low interest rates. But the new fee was met with swift criticism by the banking industry, consumer groups and members of Congress, who were wary of what the new cost could mean for struggling borrowers and the entire housing market during such a tumultuous economic time.

This summer’s markets rally hasn’t helped banks and investors who lent about $2.7 billion to build the country’s second-largest mall, near the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey, the Wall Street Journal reported. The American Dream Mall has been shut since March, and mutual funds that bought municipal bonds backing its construction have since taken hundreds of millions of dollars in paper losses. The troubles highlight the growing disconnect between ailing segments of the U.S. economy and the surge on Wall Street. Even with schools in New Jersey preparing to reopen, American Dream remains closed because of a state order aimed at reducing the spread of the new coronavirus. The longer the hybrid mall and amusement park goes without paying customers, the harder it will be for its owner, Triple Five Group, to repay the money it borrowed from banks and mutual funds in 2017. The price of some of American Dream’s roughly $1 billion of municipal bonds fell to about 87 cents on the dollar in July after Triple Five disclosed that the mall was losing tenants. The bonds had traded around 120 cents before the coronavirus struck the U.S., according to data from Electronic Municipal Market Access. Municipal-bond mutual funds operated by Nuveen, which owned about $600 million face value of American Dream debt this spring, took paper losses of about $196 million on the investment from March through June, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of fund reports published by Nuveen. Interest payments over the period reduced the net paper loss to $183 million, according to a Nuveen spokeswoman.

The Federal Reserve looks likely to keep short-term interest rates near zero for five years or possibly more after it adopts a new strategy for carrying out monetary policy, Bloomberg News reported. The new approach, which could be unveiled as soon as next month, is likely to result in policy makers taking a more relaxed view toward inflation, even to the point of welcoming a modest, temporary rise above their 2 percent target to make up for past shortfalls. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is slated to provide an update on the Fed’s 1-1/2-year-old framework review of its policies and practices when he speaks on Thursday to the central bank’s Jackson Hole conference, being held virtually this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. “I wouldn’t be surprised if interest rates are still zero five years from now,” said Jason Furman, a former chief White House economist and now Harvard University professor. At their June meeting, all 17 Fed policy makers projected that the federal funds rate they target would remain near zero this year and next. And all but two saw rates staying at that level in 2022. Officials will provide updated quarterly forecasts at their meeting next month, including for the first time projections for 2023.

As the coronavirus spiraled into a public health crisis this spring, the nation’s largest business lobby identified a critical goal: making sure businesses don’t face legal penalties when new flare-ups in offices, storefronts and factory floors put people in danger, the Washington Post reported. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform wrote draft legislation designed to shield companies from liability related to the pandemic and distributed it to state and federal lawmakers, according to a top executive. It found a welcome audience on Capitol Hill. Senate Republicans have since proposed and ardently defended liability provisions that appeared in the Chamber’s draft legislation, although the final proposed version, called the Safe to Work Act, contained numerous provisions the organization hadn’t flagged. The Chamber says that it is trying to preempt what it thinks will be a coming wave of coronavirus-related lawsuits. The issue has become a sticking point in stalled negotiations over a new federal relief package. Senate Republicans have said they will refuse to negotiate over coronavirus liability protections, and will not agree to any deal that doesn’t include them.