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Recent data has shed light on a concerning trend in some European countries, where corporate bankruptcies have reached levels comparable to or even surpassing those observed during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). This revelation unveils the economic challenges faced by the continent, with implications for employment, business productivity, and overall economic recovery. https://twitter.com/MichaelAArouet/status/1736646018588942693

Biden’s massive spending spree (aka, Build Back Better) has a new name: Build Back Bankrupt! According to Epiq, Commercial Chapter 11 Filings Increased 68 Percent in the First Half of 2023. NEW YORK – July 03, 2023 — The 2,973 total commercial Chapter 11 bankruptcies filed during the first six months of 2023 represented a 68 percent increase over the 1,766 filed during the same period in 2022, according to data provided by Epiq Bankruptcy, the leading provider of U.S. bankruptcy filing data. Individual Chapter 13 filings increased by 23 percent during the same period. Overall commercial filings registered 12,107...

The solar industry in California has experienced several high-profile bankruptcies including one of its largest producers, Petersen Dean. Now, another local solar company has shuttered, leaving homeowners with unfinished systems on roofs that aren't producing any power, not saving money on utility bills, and often there's still the financing of the equipment and installation that the customer is responsible for.

U.S. corporate bankruptcies have reached their highest level since 2010. Many American companies have been stumbling in the wake of the pandemic due to increasing interest rates, supply-chain issues, and rising costs. Several of the firms have filed for bankruptcy after access to low interest loans and access to easy money began to wane. “For 2009, there were 118 bankruptcies through April. In COVID-impacted 2020, there were 71 bankruptcies. In 2023, there have been 70. This is the third worst start to the year since 2000,” said Mike Shedlock, an economist. The Federal Reserve is predicting a mild recession by...

Warning signs of a potential credit crunch were flashing even before Silicon Valley Bank's stunning collapse, as this year sees record high bankruptcy filings by small- to mid-sized private businesses, according to UBS. Financial markets this month were whipped around after the biggest bank failure since the global financial crisis highlighted worries about the impact of tighter credit conditions for American businesses and consumers. ["We] believe one of the more underappreciated signs of distress in US corporate credit is already emanating from the Small and Mid-size Enterprises sector," Matthew Mish, head of credit strategy at UBS, wrote in a recently...

The US economy, despite the tight labor market, has been shot through the heart by Biden’s economic policies. The Biden Administration (aka, Obama’s third term as President) is giving government a bad name. On the corporate side, US bankruptcies in 2023 had the worst start to a year since 2010 and the financial crisis. On the personal finance side of the ledger, the delinqueny rate on credit cards is growing at the faster rate since 2010. Throw in 22 straight months of negative REAL wage growth, and have a scary situation facing middle America. And the shate of outstanding subprime...

The major challenge ahead of UK's newly appointed Prime Minister Liz is to uplift the country's economy. ...

The coronavirus pandemic has caused sharp swings in the economy over the past year, thrusting many businesses and families into economic uncertainty and in some cases outright collapse. Even so, the number of national bankruptcies filed in 2020 was the lowest since 1986 and nearly 30 percent lower than in 2019. But many experts expect bankruptcies to increase in the coming years. The federal court system was closed near the beginning of the pandemic, which delayed filings for months. Moreover, bankruptcies also tend to be "lagging indicators" of economic distress because of the complex legal process involved; the Great Recession...

The Trump administration walked back federal protections for renters in early October, even though rent moratoriums were still in effect, which allowed property owners and operators to begin the eviction process for millions of people as tens of billions of dollars in back rent is coming due. In early September, the CDC published new, temporary guidelines to halt evictions because of the virus pandemic. The public health agency said: The CDC, located within the HHS announces the issuance of an Order under Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act to temporarily halt residential evictions to prevent the further spread...

This is a little dated (6 days ago), but it explains this virus like no one has ever offered that I have heard before. I think it becomes imperative that FDA, CDC, and the rest start now providing those infected, with hydroxychloroquine in combination with antibiotics. To hell with studies. Use this now and sort out the studies later. If I had this I would sign whatever waiver they put under my nose. Looks like April 12th is not going to happen, and President Trump said as much. I think it behooves everyone to watch this.

Pop quiz: What percentage of bankruptcies in the United States are caused by medical bills? If you lived through the debate over passing Obamacare, you probably answered something like “half.” That was the figure in common currency among advocates of health-care reform; then-Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) were just two of the prominent advocates who used it. Other variants were also popular; Barack Obama, for example, was fond of saying that “the cost of health care now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds.” It’s a memorable number. But it’s almost certainly many times the true...

But don’t blame the oil bust. Commercial bankruptcy filings, from corporations to sole proprietorships, spiked 28% in March from February, the largest month-to-month move in the data series of the American Bankruptcy Institute going back to 2012. They’re up 8% year-over-year. Over the past 24 months, they soared 37%! At 3,658, they’re at the highest level for any March since 2013. Commercial bankruptcy filings skyrocketed during the Financial Crisis and peaked in March 2010 at 9,004. Then they fell sharply until they reached their low point in October 2015. November 2015 was the turning point, when for the first time...

The Commonwealth of Virginia awarded procurement of its Transform66 Outside the Beltway project to I-66 Express Mobility Partners, a consortium of private companies, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced on Nov. 3. I-66 Express Mobility Partners, which consists of transportation infrastructure company Cintra, public infrastructure investment firm Meridiam, and the contractors Ferrovial Agroman US and Allan Myers VA, Inc., will be responsible for financing, designing, building, maintaining and operating the interstate expansion. The Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Transform66 Outside the Beltway project will add two express lanes in each direction between I-495 and Gainesville along with three general purpose lanes...

Investors may not realize it, but the Walking Dead is not the only zombie show running right now. The oil markets are at least as scary and have zombies that are much harder to kill than AMC’s popular program. While about 100 oil companies have gone bankrupt in 2015 and 2016, almost none of those companies have actually “died”. Instead, most of the firms are still pumping oil just as rapidly as before. That, in turn, has significant implications for investors in the market.

Germany’s largest lender is set to shut over a quarter of its branches across the country as the company goes through a major restructuring process. The closures are set to take place over the next few months, with 188 of Deutsche Bank’s 723 branches nationwide due to close their doors. […] After recording colossal losses of around €7 billion in 2015, the Frankfurt lender is desperately seeking ways to cut costs. […] The bank said it hopes to redirect funds to digital banking, in which it hopes to invest €750 million by 2020. …

Yves here. While commercial bankruptcies are still below the level of late 2013, Wolf is correct to point out that the spike during this year’s bankruptcy season is bigger and longer-lived than in recent years. Presumably a fair bit of the change is due to stress in oil producing areas, but it may also include an intensification of the ongoing shakeout in bricks and mortar retailers.By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Originally published at Wolf StreetThis year through June, there have been 91 corporate defaults globally,...

April 6, 2016 Ivanka Trump Scarves Recalled Because Of "Burn Risk" Scarves made in China and sold as part of Ivanka Trump's fashion line are being recalled because they are too flammable and pose a "burn risk" to consumers. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday that no injuries have been reported. The recall involves about 20,000 rayon scarves, sold from October 2014 through January 2016 in department stores and online. They range in cost from $12 to $68. A representative for the Ivanka Trump brand, which includes clothing, accessories and fragrances, said that it is disappointed for the...

New York's famous Plaza Hotel is set to go on sale in an auction next month and experts believe that the five-star hotel could sell for more than $1billion. Billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben hold the mortgage for the storied five-star hotel and scheduled a foreclosure auction for April 26. The auction was prompted after the hotel's 75 per cent owner Sahara India Pariwar — whose chairman went to prison in 2014 for defrauding investors — defaulted on loan agreements... < snip > Foreign investors are pouring capital into New York hotels at a historic rate. Much of the...

With Newt Gingrich accusing Mitt Romney this week of “bankrupting companies” during his time at Bain Capital, Romney’s wildly lucrative business career continues to draw fire from opponents who seek to paint him as a heartless financier. So did Romney wreck companies as Gingrich says he did? Under Romney’s leadership at Bain, which spanned from 1984 to 1990 and from 1992 to 1999, at least five companies eventually filed for bankruptcy after being acquired by the private equity firm.

The world's financial system has become dangerously unstable and faces an avalanche of bankruptcies that will test social and political stability, according to a leading global banker. William White, chairman of the OECD's review committee and former chief economist of the Bank for International Settlements, suggests the stresses in the financial system are "worse than it was in 2007." Speaking with the UK Telegraph's Ambrose Evans-Pritchard before the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, White warned that macroeconomic ammunition to fight further economic downturns was essentially "all used up."