The retailer has struggled through seven years of losses and hundreds of store closures under CEO Edward Lampert By guest author Suzanne Kapner from Wall Street Journal For much of the 20th century, Sears Holdings Corp. defined American retailing with catalogs and department stores that brought toys, tools and appliances to millions of homes. By … More Epilogue – Sears reshaped America, from Kenmore to Allstate

By guest author Justin Lahart from Wall Street Journal A slowdown in U.S. retail sales can be explained by Hurricane Florence, other unseasonable weather and weakness at department stores, not an economic slowdown Nothing can elicit eye rolls from investors quite like hearing a retailer say that sales were weak because of the weather. Well, … More Actual Storms, not economic ones, explain U.S. Retail Sales Dip

By guest author Elisabeth Winkler at Wall Street Journal Expected bankruptcy filing by storied retailer shows limits of ‘zombie’ retailers’ staying power On Tuesday October 9, 2018, legendary investor Stanley Druckenmiller predicted a wave of bankruptcies at indebted “zombie” companies. He highlighted one in particular: “Seriously does anyone know why Sears is still in business?” … More Why Sears is spooking Investors

By guest author Maurice Obstfeld. He is the Economic Counsellor and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund, on leave from the University of California, Berkeley The latest World Economic Outlook report projects that global growth will remain steady over 2018–19 at last year’s rate of 3.7 percent. This growth exceeds that achieved in … More Global growth plateaus as Economic Risks Materialise

By guest author Editor-in-Chief of Textile Network With the new concept Topaz Fusion, Trans-Textil bridges the gap between individual design and functional high-performance materials. Behind this is the combination of highly breathable and weatherproof multilayer membrane laminates with versatile possibilities of product design in textile printing or coating. This results in individual products for outdoor, … More Fashion meets innovative textile technologies

Qatar has requested WTO dispute consultations with Saudi Arabia to discuss certain Saudi measures concerning intellectual property rights owned by Qatari nationals. The request was circulated to WTO members on October 4, 2018 Qatar claims the measures at issue are inconsistent with the provisions of the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights … More Qatar requests WTO consultations with Saudi Arabia on intellectual property rights protection