Things are only going to get worse. Bond insurers basicly sell insurance to protect stock holders in the event that a company defaults on their loans. That insurance has skyrocketed due to they give Sears Holdings a 50% chance of defaulting on their loans in the next year or two. There is a loan coming due in July that was secured with 21 stores. The loan was for $500 million and all but $11 million has been used. If the loan is not repaid those stores are gone. Their are only 211 stores left that are not being used for loan collateral. Those 211 properties have an estamated value of $2.5 billion. Properties used for collateral cannot be sold till the loanis paid, unless the loan defaults and then the owner of the debt can sell the properties to try to get back their money. I think the reason more stores are not closing is becouse most of them are being used as collateral for loans to restructure the company. If the loans coming due cannot be paid then the company is going sink like a rock down a well.
https://www.thestreet.com/story/13997508/1/sears-is-a-disaster-and-it-amazingly-just-keeps-getting-worse.html