Rue 21 Bankruptcy Raises Loan Default Rate; Nine West Hires Lazard

Expect more leveraged loan defaults throughout the rest of the year — a lot more.

Fitch Ratings Inc. is forecasting a retail loan default rate this year of 9 percent, or the equivalent of about $6 billion of defaults, but that the “fate of Sears Holdings and the resolution of J. Crew Group’s bond exchange could materially alter the projection.”