Macy's, JC Penney; Kohl's, Blackstone

Anyone notice a common theme here?

Macy's, the second-biggest U.S. department-store company, posted a loss of $59 million

as revenue declined 3% and same store sales fell 2.6%, which was better than Nordstroms decline of 6.5%.

JC Penney, the third-largest U.S. department-store chain, posted a Q1 profit as net income declined 50%

and sales declined 5.1% while inventories rose 5.6%. Same store sales declined 7.4% vs a 3.4% increase last year.

CEO Myron Ullman: "we will cut future orders and make necessary discounts to better balance our inventory position with expected sales levels."

Kohl's, the fourth-largest U.S. department-store company, said profit dropped 27% as same store sales fell 6.7%

Leading buyout firm Blackstone posted an unexpected loss of $66.5 million vs a profit of $838.5 million,

on a 94% decline in revenue as it announced one leveraged buyout, valued at $1.2 billion, in the period, compared with $42 billion in deals a year earlier.

Blackstone President Tony James said banks may be mistaken if they think credit markets have begun a sustained recovery.

"It's not clear to me if it's a permanent upswing, as I think many of the banks are saying, or the eye of the hurricane."

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