In light of the dip in the S&P futures for reasons we all know this morning, I'll just say this. Capitalism works best when it is left alone as businesses and consumers are left free to trade goods and services at prices agreed upon by both sides as it is a highly competitive world out there. Unfortunately we keep straying from that basic economic concept with a muscled top-down approach. The best thing a government can do is lower as many economic barriers as possible with regards to taxes, regulations, permitting, etc... and watch the private sector do its economic magic. I know not everyone plays fair but 'you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you'll find, you get what you need.' I'll leave it at that.
No better way to put your finger on the pulse of the consumer than to hear from those who directly sell to them. Visibility remains cloudy and companies are jumping through hoops.
From Ross Stores and whose stock is down sharpy pre-market as they lowered guidance for the next quarter:
Comps were flat y/o/y and said after a tough February (likely weather induced) they said business got better thereafter.
"From a pricing standpoint, we expect modest but broad based inflationary pressure across the retail industry, and we will remain focused on maintaining a substantial pricing umbrella below traditional retailers in order to deliver the bargains our customers have come to expect from us."
As for full year guidance, "there are simply too many unknown variables that are limiting our visibility into the second half of the fiscal year, and we believe it is prudent to withdraw our previously provided annual guidance at this time...we have limited visibility on how customer demands may evolve over the balance of the year, given prolonged inflation, deteriorating consumer sentiment, and still elevated and potentially fluctuating tariff levels."
"And the impact of tariffs, we expect to start hitting the customer in the July, late June timeframe."
From BJ's Wholesale who had a good quarter:
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