Welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Thursday, Aug. 7. In today's briefing, Claire’s, the mall-based ear‑piercing and accessories chain, has filed for bankruptcy for the second time and could close up to 1,300 U.S. stores. 

Tween retailer Claire’s, a shopping-mall fixture known for ear-piercing and accessories, has filed for bankruptcy for the second time and could close 1,300 U.S. stores.

The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer sought protection from creditors Wednesday, saying it has been hurt by both macroeconomic and retail-specific challenges like less foot traffic, higher interest rates and tariffs.

Claire’s, which previously filed for chapter 11 in 2018, has a bricks-and-mortar presence including 1,970 namesake stores in North America and Europe, 210 shops inside Walmarts, and 120 stores operating under the Icing brand, court papers show.

Kohl’s heavily shorted shares caught the attention of meme-stock traders in mid-July, who briefly piled in and sent the stock up nearly 50%. But the newfound attention won’t solve Kohl’s longstanding problems, and investors shouldn’t mistake the rally for renewed optimism about the department-store company’s business.

Nearly 40% of Kohls’ 112 million shares were sold short as of July 29, making the retailer the most heavily shorted stock in the U.S., according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. The short interest is largely a reflection of investors’ concerns about the business, which has seen several years of declining sales, shrinking profitability and management turmoil.

President Trump has claimed that his sweeping tariff regime will reshore American companies and revive manufacturing in the U.S.

So far, that hasn’t happened. Economic activity tied to manufacturing has shrunk for most of Trump’s second term.

A few investments and pledges aimed at beefing up domestic manufacturing appear timed to appease the president, and may or may not come to fruition. The latest is from Apple, which is planning to commit an additional $100 billion to the U.S., after saying in February it would spend over $500 billion in the country over four years to make servers and parts for its key products.

TPG banked its second highest fundraising quarter, including a record $5.4 billion raised for its credit strategy, in what firm executives said will be a “breakout year” for credit.

Chief Executive Jon Winkelried said in a call with analysts that part of the boom is coming from companies’ growing need for custom financing.

Six months into the experiment, with more tariff announcements likely in the coming days, the economy hasn’t crashed. Inflation has ticked up but not soared. Consumers aren’t finding empty shelves.

The most recent inflation reading showed consumer prices rose 2.7% in June from a year earlier. That was faster than May’s increase of 2.4%, and a sign that tariffs are boosting prices of some goods, economists said, but the impact so far has been milder than many expected. More clarity will arrive next week when July inflation data is released.

One reason consumers haven’t felt more price pressure: Many U.S. companies for now are absorbing the extra tariff costs because they are reluctant to lose customers by hiking their prices until they absolutely must.

• Co-founder Changpeng Zhao became the latest Binance Holdings-affiliated person to ask a bankruptcy court to dismiss claims against him from an FTX trust seeking to claw back $1.76 billion that it said was improperly transferred by Sam Bankman-Fried. (Bloomberg)

Share your tips, suggestions and feedback with the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy team: Soma Biswas; Alexander Gladstone; Jodi Xu Klein; Akiko Matsuda; Andrew Scurria; Becky Yerak. 

Follow us on Twitter: @SomaBisWSJ; @gladstonea; @jodixu; @AskAkiko; @AndrewScurria; @beckyyerak.