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The Biden administration on Tuesday planned to issue a swath of actions and recommendations meant to address supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic and decrease reliance on other countries for crucial goods by increasing domestic production capacity, the New York Times reported. In a call yesterday detailing the plan to reporters, White House officials said the administration had created a task force that would “tackle near-term bottlenecks” in construction, transportation, semiconductor production and agriculture. The officials also outlined steps that had been taken to address an executive order from President Biden that required a review of critical supply chains in four product areas where the United States relies on imports: semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, pharmaceuticals and their active ingredients, and critical minerals and strategic materials, like rare earths. The review has been governmentwide, the officials said: Cabinet members were ordered to provide reports to the White House within 100 days. The move was intended to address concerns about supply chain resiliency and long-term competition with China. The Department of Health and Human Services, for instance, will use $60 million from the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill to develop technologies to increase domestic production of active ingredients in key pharmaceuticals. The Interior Department will work to identify sites where critical minerals could be produced in the United States. And several agencies will work on creating supply chains for new technologies that will reduce reliance on imports of key materials. The Biden administration also signaled that it was prepared to use trade policy to bolster domestic supplies of key minerals and components. As part of that effort, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said it would establish a so-called strike force that could propose actions against overseas companies deemed to be engaged in unfair trade practices.

Fourteen months after the pandemic triggered a national emergency, the final chapter of the U.S. economic recovery may begin this month, with rapid changes starting with the end of enhanced unemployment benefits in half the states and ending in the fall's expected reopening of schools and universities, Reuters reported. Along the way, Major League Baseball stadiums are slated to return to full capacity, and the largest state economy, California, on June 15 will shed its final COVID-era restrictions and give bars, restaurants and other businesses a green light on the road to normal. That same day in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to open debate about when and how to cut the economy loose from its crisis-fighting monetary policy and shift to managing what is hoped to be a long economic expansion. Since coronavirus vaccines rolled out in December, forecasts have pointed to record-breaking numbers this year, including the fastest annual gross domestic product growth in nearly 40 years. Companies in May added 559,000 jobs, but the total number remains 7.6 million short of early 2020. About 3.6 million more people are unemployed, and the labor force is 3.5 million smaller. Shortages of supplies, workers and raw materials have crimped the recovery with businesses curtailing hours, turning away customers, or delaying filling orders. The Fed's most recent national economic snapshot referenced shortages 44 times, compared with 17 in January and three a year ago. Economists expect that to ease. The pandemic put the economy into what some likened to an induced coma. Shaking off the stupor takes time, and is complicated by some of the programs used to cushion the economy's sharp drop last spring. Stimulus payments and low interest rates, for example, fueled a boom in home sales that spilled into home construction and lumber prices. Yet the costs for wood and some other commodities already have begun easing: lumber futures are down 24% from their peak, with copper and aluminum falling around 5%. Likewise, the splurge on automobiles, appliances and other goods will likely prove a one-time affair; even if demand remains strong, supply will likely catch up.

Adam Aron, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s chief executive, has decided to run with the meme-stock bulls who helped his company avoid bankruptcy during the pandemic, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. More than any CEO swept up in the meme-stock trade, Aron has come to represent the surrealism and opportunities of modern-day trading. He is a Harvard Business School graduate now known for sharing social-media memes of Reddit in-jokes. He has traded a Chinese real-estate firm, the Dalian Wanda Group, for three million individual investors he calls his community. He has promised the new shareholders dividends and free popcorn. And it has helped the world’s largest movie-theater chain emerge from its pandemic hole. AMC raised $587 million Thursday through another stock sale effort, its seventh in nine months, adding up to more than $2.2 billion total since it began its stock sale efforts in August. The sale comes on the heels of a recent rally that brought AMC’s share price to $72 from $10 in early May.

The wave of U.S. municipal-bond distress set off by the pandemic is still spreading even as the economy recovers from the devastation of the outbreak, Bloomberg News reported. Eight muni borrowers became distressed last week, lifting this year’s tally to 76, according to Municipal Market Analytics. That puts 2021 on track to exceed almost every year since 2012 in terms of impairments. Only 2020, when the coronavirus caused some of the worst market turmoil on record, was worse. The isolated cases of deterioration in certain smaller, typically lower-rated or unrated issuers stand at odds with the optimism in statehouses nationwide, which have been buoyed by strong tax revenue and federal stimulus. It’s been a banner year for munis, with tax-exempt yields near record lows relative to those on Treasuries. Any defaults have mostly been confined to a corner of the market where businesses borrow through government agencies. Overall muni credit health is on the mend as the economy revives. And the tally of issuers in distress is a drop in the bucket when compared to the tens of thousands of separate borrowers that compose the $3.9 trillion market.

All of the changes for small gyms to survive the COVID-19 pandemic required more than a tutorial in Zoom; they necessitated a radical change in thinking in an industry that has been providing its product in essentially the same way since Vic Tanny’s first “health clubs” opened in the 1930s, the New York Times reported. “Prior to the pandemic, clients had to visit a brick-and-mortar business to consume the product,” said Julian Barnes, chief executive of Boutique Fitness Solutions, an advisory firm to small gyms and fitness studios. The new multiple-channel approach “means meeting your client wherever he or she is,” he said. “If she wants to work out live, give her that ability to take a class live. If she wants to work out at 2 a.m., and pull up a video of her favorite class, give her the ability to do that. If she wants to work out outdoors, give her the ability for that.” Barnes estimated that, before the pandemic, the United States had about 70,000 of these small gym and studios. “A lot of them were uprooted from their original business model,” said Tricia Murphy Madden, who is based in Seattle and is national education director for Savvier Fitness, a fitness product and education company. “What I’m seeing now is that if you’re still operating the way you did 16 months ago, you’re not going to survive.”

Victoria’s Secret is facing allegations by its landlord that the company prematurely ended its stay at the Westfield World Trade Center Shopping Center, located in downtown Manhattan, in alleged violation of a lease agreement, YahooFinance.com reported. In a complaint filed in late May in New York state court, Westfield made claims for more than $30 million, alleging that the retailer had “refused to pay rent” and backed out part way through from a 12-year lease that was meant to end in 2029. The suit seeks more than $4.2 million in unpaid rent and roughly $28 million in damages for the alleged violation of the lease. “By virtue of Victoria’s Secret’s impermissible surrender of the premises, failure to continuously open for business and operate and failure to pay rental as it became due and owing, Westfield terminated the lease effective May 27, 2021,” Westfield wrote in its complaint. “As a result of Victoria Secret’s defaults under the lease and the resulting termination, Westfield is entitled to accelerate all rental as if the lease had not been terminated.” Lease agreements sometimes address these scenarios through what are known as co-tenancy clauses. Such provisions may allow tenants to reduce their rent or leave their premises during their lease term, if they can show other important tenants have already left. Victoria’s Secret allegedly invoked such co-tenancy failures and sought to terminate its lease. But Westfield argues in its suit that the retailer had not shown evidence for its claim about such co-tenancy issues. Read more. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/victoria-secret-hit-landlord-suit-215525…

What does the future hold for the retail industry? Watch the latest episode of ABI's "Industry Viewpoints" featuring Laura Davis Jones of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones (Wilmington, Del.). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSK20W9r2l4&feature=youtu.be

Occupancy issues are at the heart of many significant retail cases, as detailed in the ABI publication Retail and Office Bankruptcy: Landlord/Tenant Rights, available at the ABI Store. https://store.abi.org/retail-and-office-bankruptcy-landlord-tenant-righ…

Latam Airlines Group SA Chief Executive Roberto Alvo, seeking to stave off an overture from rival Azul SA, said the bankrupt air carrier’s Brazilian operations aren’t for sale, Bloomberg News reported. Santiago-based Latam, which has now been in U.S. bankruptcy for more than a year, has its sights set on a strong chapter 11 exit — not a piecemeal sale of the business, Alvo said in an interview Wednesday. The carrier’s shares briefly slumped last week after it denied reports that Azul SA planned to buy Latam’s Brazilian subsidiary. While Alvo said he is “absolutely not” selling the Sao Paulo-based unit to the low cost competitor, Azul is now waiting to evaluate Latam’s bankruptcy exit plan and may propose the acquisition offer directly to Latam creditors. Azul has unsuccessfully floated to Latam executives the idea of carving out the domestic Brazil network, according to the person. Under the proposal, Latam, the largest airline in Latin America, would have been left to focus on business elsewhere in the region while maintaining links to the route network in Brazil.

Investors began backpedaling from AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. after the movie-theater operator said that it plans to sell more stock — while simultaneously cautioning potential buyers of its shares that they might lose all their money, the Wall Street Journal reported. Shares of AMC finished Thursday’s wild trading session down 18% at $51.34 after almost doubling in value the previous day. The stock appeared set to continue its run in Thursday’s premarket trading, notching double-digit percentage gains. The momentum reversed, though, once the company filed with regulators to sell more than 11 million shares and warned against investing in its stock. AMC shares dropped as much as 40%, then later recovered all of those losses before sliding again. The company’s shares had rocketed in recent days — extending their advance this year by 2,850% before Thursday’s decline — after the company sold a chunk of new shares to the hedge fund Mudrick Capital Management LP. The company had leaned into its sudden popularity with individual investors by offering popcorn to shareholders who visit an AMC cinema this summer. (Subscription required.)