Sears Holdings losses best expectations

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Aggressive cost cutting allowed Sears Holdings to post a smaller than forecast net loss of $548 million, as the ailing retail giant announced it would nearly double the number of planned store closures for this year. Sears predicted last month that it would post a loss of between $590 and $630 million. Sales for the quarter declined 13% to $7.21 billion, due in part to the reduced number of stores. The number of slated closures for 2014 was raised to 235 from an August estimate of 130.