Deal Junkie linked to two interesting stories last week on the state of the CMBS market. One from Bloomberg talked about how at the current pace, CMBS sales may fall to a 12-year low. ...

Via BusinessWeek comes some new analysis from Standard & Poor's raising some caution flags about commercial real estate due to the weak economy. ...

This is interesting, especially in light of the December ruling in California that allows protesters access to malls on the grounds that malls are "public forums." ...

For commercial real estate investors, Brazil is a dream and Spain is a nightmare, Michael Pralle, president of real estate private equity firm J.E. Robert Cos, said on Wednesday. "I'd avoid Spain and Italy right now, and be patient in the United...

For the second time in less than three months JCPenney is announcing that its scaling back its store openings. In April, it first divulged plans to cut its openings in 2008 from 50 down to 36. Now it's cutting targets from 2009. It will only open...

Starbucks is downscaling its music sales business while Armani Exchange is ramping up its music operations.

Taubman Centers COO Bill Taubman and Saks CEO Steve Sadove talk about retail trends, including the back to school shopping season, in this CNBC clip.

That was quick. Pier 1's bid to buy Cost Plus is over.

Forbes ...

The Chicago Tribune has a nice scoop about Sears testing a new Kmart concept at two locations. They've been very quiet about it. The story takes a while to actually get around to describing the meat of the new concept. But here's the description...