"Wall Street speculators are zeroing in on the next U.S. credit crisis: the mall.... Its no secret many mall complexes have been struggling for years as Americans do more of their shopping online. But now, theyre catching the eye of hedge-fund types who think some may soon buckle under their debts, much the way many homeowners did nearly a decade ago."

In late 2019, none other than iconic investor Carl Icahn jumped in to the the big short 2.0, shorting America's malls by going long default risk via CMBX, or otherwise shorting the CMBS.

As a reminder, CMBX 6 - which tracks the value of 25 commercial-mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS - grabbed investor attention because it has significant exposure to loans made in 2012 to malls that lately have been running into difficulties.