After A Vicious Year Of Bankruptcies, Some Retailers Are Still At Risk.

Apparel and department stores are the most at risk for defaulting on their loans in 2021, analysts with Moody’s Investors Service said in an April 7 report. After a brutal year in 2020, in which dozens of retailers filed for bankruptcy, more filings could be coming, but not as many as last year, the analysts said. Apparel stores accounted for about half of defaults in 2020, and the sector is still “in the eye of the storm,” as it confronts long-term pressures, like declining mall traffic, the analysts said. Although the 2021 forecast “marks a vast improvement over the prior year, it is still historically high relative to prior recoveries, pointing to significant ongoing risk for an industry not yet out of the woods,” the report said. Read more at Business Insider.