The daily business briefing: October 15, 2018

(Image credit: OZAN KOSE / AFP)

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1. Sears files for bankruptcy protection
2. Stocks retreat as Saudi Arabia tensions add to global concerns
3. Analysts say insurers can handle billions in Hurricane Michael losses
4. Saudi Arabia warns U.S. against sanctions over missing journalist
5. Brewing innovator Bill Coors dies at 102

published 15 October 2018

1. Sears files for bankruptcy protection

Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, aiming to cut its debts and keep the struggling department store chain operating at least through the holiday shopping season. The announcement came on a day when Sears had a $134 million loan payment. Eddie Lampert will remain chairman but step down as CEO, with a three-person committee taking over to lead the restructuring. Lampert's hedge fund will put up $300 million in bankruptcy financing. The company, once a leading retail innovator, has cut its work force from 302,000 a decade ago to 68,000 today as it shut more than 1,000 stores due to plunging sales and overwhelming competition from big-box stores and online rivals. Sears will close another 142 of its remaining stores by year's end.

U.S. stock-index futures fell early Monday, pointing to a lower open as concerns continue over rising interest rates and oil prices. Global stocks also fell as President Trump's threat to punish Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of a journalist drove oil prices higher. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.4 percent, while those of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 dropped by 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. U.S. stocks plunged last week but regained a bit of the lost ground on Friday. "Just as you shouldn't breathe too big a sigh of relief after Earth tremors end, we remain anxious of a market that seems jittery," analysts at Dutch lender ING said.

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Analysts estimate that Hurricane Michael caused billions of dollars of damage, but they say the insurance industry should be able to handle the losses. It is still too early for a precise accounting, because insurers and residents still can't get into some of the hardest hit areas because of damage to roads and communications systems. "In situations like that, we're relying on aerial imagery ... so if we can't get to the site or get a look at it, at least we can get a decent picture of what's going on," said Carl Nemeth, special investigative unit manager at Tower Hill Insurance. The death toll from the storm has risen to 18, and authorities say dozens more people remain missing.

Saudi Arabia on Sunday threatened retaliation if President Trump follows through with a threat to inflict "severe punishment" on the kingdom if it is proven responsible for the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Turkey says it has evidence that Saudi agents killed Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, when he went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to get a document he needed to get married. Khashoggi's disappearance prompted a growing list of attendees and sponsors to drop out of this month's "Davos in the Desert" investor conference in Riyadh. The Saudi stock exchange fell by as much as 7 percent on Sunday, closing down by 4 percent before bouncing back with a 2 percent rise on Monday.

Bill Coors, former chairman of the Adolph Coors Company, has died at the age of 102. Coors was a pioneer of the U.S. brewing industry. He started working for his grandfather Adolph Coors' brewing company in 1939 and took over as the company's chairman 20 years later. Coors created and developed the aluminum can, a key innovation. The earlier tin-lined steel packaging was costlier and affected product taste. "His dedication, hard work, and ingenuity helped shape not only our company but the entire beer industry," Mark Hunter, president and CEO of Molson Coors, said in a statement.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.