https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/06/business/barneys-bankruptcy/index.html
2019-08-06 07:15:00Z
52780346232157

Barneys New York Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection with plans to close most of its stores and a $75 million financing package that would give the luxury retailer time to find a buyer.
The restructuring plan, filed early Tuesday morning, has Barneys, which operates 13 department stores and 9 warehouse stores, shutting down stores in Chicago, Las Vegas and Seattle. The retailer will continue to run seven stores, including its flagship Manhattan store, the company said.
Barneys Chief Executive Daniella Vitale said Barneys had been hurt by a broader downturn in retail as well as “excessively high” rent. Bankruptcy protection “will provide the company the necessary tools to conduct a sale process, review our current leases and optimize our operations,” she said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday the company was close to filing for bankruptcy and near a financing deal with Gordon Brothers and Hilco Global, firms specialized in selling assets for distressed companies. The loan was expected to fund the company’s stay in bankruptcy for 60 days while it attempted to clinch a deal with a buyer, according to people familiar with the matter. If Barneys cannot reach a deal, it would liquidate, they said.
Barneys is much smaller than rivals Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, which each operate about 40 department stores. Barneys was carrying approximately $200 million in debt, the people said.
The chapter 11 filing in the Southern District of New York indicates the company has more than $100 million in assets and more than $100 million in debts. The creditors include fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Gucci.
The retailer, controlled by the New York hedge fund Perry Capital, struggled to navigate the rise of e-commerce as well as a steep rent hike for its flagship store in Manhattan. The rent nearly doubled this year to $27.9 million from $16.2 million. Barneys fought the rent increase but lost during an arbitration proceeding earlier this year, prompting the retailer to hire restructuring advisers.
Barneys’ existing lenders Wells Fargo & Co. and TPG Sixth Street Partners, a credit investor partly owned by private-equity firm TPG, allowed the company to take the junior loan from Gordon and Hilco.
A number of potential buyers have expressed interest in the iconic chain but need time to complete their due diligence, some of the people said.
In recent months the company hired restructuring advisers and lawyers M-III Partners LP, Houlihan Lokey Inc. and Kirkland & Ellis to negotiate a restructuring and prepare a bankruptcy filing.
A bankruptcy filing would mark the second trip through bankruptcy court for the retailer, which filed for protection from creditors in 1996. It avoided another bankruptcy in 2012 when Perry Capital, one of its lenders at the time, took majority ownership of the company in an out-of-court deal.
Barneys’ travails come as traditional retailers are struggling with the shift to online shopping and facing off against a host of technology-driven startups like Net-a-Porter, an online fashion seller, and The RealReal Inc., which lets consumers buy or sell secondhand luxury goods.
Department stores, in particular, have struggled to bring shoppers into their cavernous locations. Chains from Macy’s Inc. to J.C. Penney Co. have closed hundreds of stores, and others, including Sears and Bon-Ton Stores, have resorted to bankruptcy filings.
—Andrew Scurria contributed to this article.
Write to Soma Biswas at soma.biswas@wsj.com and Juliet Chung at juliet.chung@wsj.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

The battery-powered drone didn't actually have a passenger inside as it rose to a height of about 10 feet for a few moments before returning to the ground. It was the first demo of such a vehicle by a major Japanese corporation, according to Bloomberg. Its partner Cartivator aims to start mass production in 2026.
"Japan is a densely populated country and that means flying cars could greatly alleviate the burden on road traffic," Kouji Okada, who is among the project leads at NEC, told Bloomberg. "We are positioning ourselves as an enabler for air mobility, providing location data and building communications infrastructure for flying cars."
Under Japan's infrastructure plan, deliveries made by such drones are scheduled to start by 2023 or so. The government hopes to allow people to travel in the machines in the following decade. Venture capitalists in Japan meanwhile are investing in autonomous aircraft companies through their Drone Fund.
There's a long way to go to reach those goals though, with battery life, regulatory and safety hurdles to overcome. NEC's machine weighs about 150 kilograms, and is around 3.9 meters long, 3.7 meters wide and 1.3 meters tall. Add some bodies and that's a considerable mass to keep in the air safely for any length of time.
NEC isn't the only ones building autonomous flying vehicles, of course. The United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and Singapore are hoping to make waves in the industry, while private companies like Uber, Volvo's parent company and Google co-founder Larry Page's Kitty Hawk are working on such machines too.
However, NEC and Cartivator might hold an advantage over rival businesses, thanks to the Japan government's support. Cartivator already has a permit for outdoor flights.
(Kitco News) - The gold market saw massive moves on Monday, breaking record highs in a number of currencies, including the British pound, the Japanese yen, the Canadian and the Australian dollars. The yellow metal also saw a massive 3% daily rallies in other currencies.
The main driver behind this week’s move has been the escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China. After U.S. President Donald Trump announced 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports, China let the yuan to weaken and rise above 7 against the U.S. dollar for the first time in more than a decade.
“This is leading to ideas China has thrown in the towel on any trade agreement with the U.S. coming anytime soon. China’s central bank appeared to condone the decline in its currency, saying the yuan’s fall is the result of U.S. protectionism and that the yuan remains stable. In the past, China’s central bank had stepped in to boost the yuan when it reached 7 to the dollar,” Kitco’s senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff said on Monday.
The currency war is playing a big role in gold breaking all-time highs in a number of currencies, said Wyckoff, adding that the yellow metal has room to head higher.
“Given the potential for keener turmoil in the currency markets in the coming weeks, or months, the move of the currencies that are not considered safe-haven on the world marketplace, would be seeing more demand for gold due to holders of those currencies being extra nervous,” he said. “As for gold, technicals have turned more bullish just recently, and with the higher anxiety in the stock and financial markets, look for gold prices to continue to appreciate in the coming weeks.”
Currency tensions are likely to continue to define future gold price moves, stated Scotiabank commodity strategist Nicky Shiels.
“Gold’s price in every major currency seems to be at record highs, and that is a big statement indicator that we are in the middle of some sort of currency war,” she said. “There’s definitely a lot of political backlash coming into the United States around the value of fiat currencies … The fact that gold is rallying against most G10 fiats, and the dollar, is indicative of this new regime that we’re in.”
Many investors are looking to leave the forex market for the safety of the yellow metal, according to analysts.
“If I had money in the bank, I [would] sell the dollars and use that money to buy gold. You are divesting yourself from your currency by selling it and buying a hard asset. People are concerned,” said RJO Futures senior market strategist Phillip Streible.
Spot gold in British pounds rallied 2.04% on the day, hitting above GBP £1,208 an ounce during the North American trading session, according to Kitco’s aggregated charts.
“There is a lot of risk with the British pound right now. The EU would be the first to go into a complete recession, followed by the British pound,” Streible pointed out.
Gold in Japanese yen hit a record high on Monday as well with spot prices jumping more than 1.3% on the day at last trading at JPY ¥155,550.
Spot gold in Canadian dollars was last up 1.83% on the day, hitting a record high of above CAD $1,938 earlier in the session.
Spot gold in Australian dollars was up 2.40%, hitting a new record high of above AUD $2,172 an ounce, according to Kitco's aggregated charts.
Spot gold in the Indian rupees was also at a new record high of nearly Rs ?104,400, up 3.50% on the day.
Gold prices in South African rand were up more than 3% on the day, reach an all-time high of ZAR R21,929.
Other currencies saw massive jumps, including gold in Chinese yuan, up 3.5% at CNY ¥10,360. In euros, gold rallied 1.18% with spot last trading at €1,310 an ounce, according to Kitco's aggregated charts.
“People need stability in China, so they are selling their currency to buy gold. That’s why gold futures are going up so strongly,” Streible noted.
Even in Swiss francs, spot gold surged over 1% on a daily basis, last trading at CHF1,429.95.
It is important to look at the correlation of gold in Swiss francs as both the yellow metal and the currency are considered to be safe-haven assets. “The Swiss franc is usually perceived as a safe haven. I always like to look at gold in Swiss francs — correlation of a safe haven with a safe haven currency,” said Streible.
The country with the worst economic prospects and a dovish central bank is likely to see its biggest rally in gold, added the RJO strategist. “Look at the economy and the trend of their monetary policy. Are they in the easing cycle? Are they still engaging in quantitative easing?”

Specialists Paul Cosentino, left, and Jeffrey Berger worked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, today. Stocks tanked again today on worries that President Donald Trump’s worsening trade war will threaten a global recession and drag profits for companies even lower.
Financial markets buckled after China escalated the trade war with the U.S., sending American stocks to the biggest drop of the year and sparking a rally in global bonds. Gold surged with the yen.
The S&P 500 Index plunged more than 3% and losses in the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed 870 points. Apple and IBM fell 5% and all but 10 S&P 500 names traded lower. The Cboe Volatility Index surged 33%. The 10-year Treasury yield was close to completely erasing the jump that followed President Donald Trump’s election. China’s yuan sank beyond 7 per dollar, a move that suggests the level is no longer a line in the sand for policymakers in Beijing. Oil tumbled.
Investors are starting to grasp the potential for a protracted conflict between the world’s two largest economies, with a Treasury-market recession indicator hitting the highest alert since 2007. As demand for haven assets spiked, gold made a run toward $1,500 an ounce and the Japanese yen extended its rally. Major cryptocurrencies, increasingly seen as a refuge during distressed times, climbed as Bitcoin approached $12,000.
“The trade war is now intensifying and it’s possible that a currency war will start as well,” said Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer for Independent Advisor Alliance. “Neither is good for the global economy and both will hurt equity markets.”
People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said the nation won’t use exchange rates as a tool in the escalating trade dispute with the U.S. Yet for President Trump, the latest decline in the yuan is “called ‘currency manipulation”’. The American leader also indicated he’d like the Federal Reserve to act to counter the Chinese action. Swaps show bets the central bank will ease by 100 basis points by December 2020, a quarter-point more than what was priced in after last week’s cut.
The trade war has been a consistent catalyst for market volatility and hopes of a resolution are now being sent even further out in the horizon, according to Mike Loewengart, vice president of investment strategy at E*Trade Financial Corp. While that could continue to challenge portfolios, investors should not make the mistake of trying to time the markets amid the sell-off, he said.
“This too shall eventually pass, and bouts of volatility in recent months have shown this can happen quickly,” said Loewengart.
These are some key events to watch out for this week:
Earnings from financial giants include: UniCredit, AIG, ABN Amro Bank, Standard Bank, Japan Post Bank.
Five Asian central banks have rate decisions including India, Australia and New Zealand.
A string of Fed policy makers speak this week, including St. Louis chief James Bullard on Tuesday and Chicago’s Charles Evans a day later. All are Federal Open Market Committee voters.
Here are the main moves in markets (all sizes and scopes are on a closing basis):
STOCKS
The S&P 500 Index dipped 3.3% to 2,835.14 as of 2:33 p.m. New York time.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 2.3%.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 2.4%.
The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 3.3%.
CURRENCIES
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.1%.
The euro advanced 0.9% to $1.1204.
The Japanese yen increased 0.6% to 105.97 per dollar.
BONDS
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 11 basis points to 1.73%.
Germany’s 10-year yield decreased two basis points to -0.52%.
Britain’s 10-year yield dipped four basis points to 0.512%.
COMMODITIES
The Bloomberg Commodity Index decreased 0.6%.
West Texas Intermediate crude declined to $54.69 a barrel.
Gold increased 1.6% to $1,480.30 an ounce.