We Went to Sears For The First Time In More Than 10 Years and Instantly Saw Why It's Dying

I haven't been inside a Sears store for more than 10 years, until Thursday, June 22. And, wow, did I learn a lot. Mainly, I came away with a better understanding of why Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) is closing an additional 20 stores on top of the 245 it already planned to shutter. And why it has failed to turn a profit in 29 out of the last 37 quarters and seen same-store sales decline in 11 of the past 12 quarters.  I observed alienating treatment of a loyal customer at the store in Jersey City, N.J., which was also messy and uninviting inside.   When I came upon customer Stephanie Rosso, a resident of Jersey City, she was struggling with four employees to get a simple return transaction completed

• Sears Still Has Over 1,200 Stores

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  Sears Still Has Over 1,200 Stores

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Alibaba's Jack Ma: 'By 2035, We Will Be the Fifth Largest Economy in the World'

Alibaba's (BABA) executive chairman Jack Ma is never short of big ideas.  Ma chose chose Detroit, Michigan over New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles to host its biggest conference ever in the U.S. this week.  The conference is called Gateway '17 and is teaching entrepreneurs, small businesses and farmers about the Chinese economy and about how they can grow their businesses by selling on Alibaba's platforms. Here are some of Ma's biggest quotes from his keynote address on Tuesday evening. One standout was Ma saying Alibaba will so sell so much stuff by the year 2035, it will generate the equivalent in GDP to be the fifth largest economy. Ma also said he was preparing for retirement.  TheStreet

U.S. E&P’s See Reserves Drop As Oil Sands Struggle

Oil prices in early 2016 dropped to the lowest levels in more than a decade. Based on the previous year’s monthly spot price, the WTI price used for reserves calculation in 2016 was $42.75, the lowest in more than a decade. This lower price forced liquids reserves down among independent U.S. E&Ps.