A second wave could hit this year as companies labor under the weight of new debt, advisers say The economic earthquake the coronavirus has unleashed is likely to trigger a wave of corporate distress and bankruptcy unseen in years.
Stay-at-home orders and the shutdown of nonessential business have driven broad swaths of the economy into panic mode, ending a long period of calm as markets rose and cheap capital abounded.
In industries that were already in a precarious position before the crisis, including retail and energy, the pandemic has tipped many companies over the edge.
A host of oil companies have sought chapter 11 protection, while J.C. Penney Co. and Neiman Marcus Group Inc. are expected to file for bankruptcy soon.