Restrictive monetary policy? Really? For some for sure, for others clearly no

So the Federal Reserve claims it is restrictive with its monetary policy but someone just paid $6.2 million for a banana duck taped to a wall? Restrictive for some and definitely not for others, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/viral-duct-taped-banana-sells-6-million-auction-rcna180564

The Bull/Bear spread widened further in the weekly Investors Intelligence survey. While Bulls fell a touch to a still high 60 level from 60.3, Bears declined by 2.4 pts to just 18.3 and thus widening the spread above 40 which is extreme. Combine this with the very euphoric read in the Citi index and we need to take note. A partial offset today though was the 8.5 pt drop in Bulls in the fickle retail read from AAII to 41.3 after jumping by 8.3 pt last week. Bears rose by 4.9 pts to 33.2. 

From Target:

"we saw healthy growth in traffic throughout the quarter, even as we encountered some macro headwinds that caused our EPS to be lower than expected."

But, "This growth in traffic was mostly offset by a decline in average ticket as consumers continue to spend cautiously, most notably in discretionary categories."

"At the category level, we've seen persistent strength in beauty, which saw a comp increase of more than 6% in the quarter, while our frequency businesses delivered solid growth in both traffic and sales. And we're pleased with our relative performance versus the market in apparel, even with a small sales decline in an environment where we saw slow sales of cold weather apparel across the industry."

"Our other two discretionary businesses, Home and Hardlines, saw continued softness in Q3, as consumers continue to spend cautiously in these categories."

On the overall consumer, "we're seeing many of the same themes that have defined the environment for some time. Consumers tell us their budgets remain stretched and they're shopping carefully, as they work to overcome the cumulative impact of multiple years of price inflation. They're becoming increasingly resourceful in their shopping behaviors, waiting to buy until the last moment of need, focusing on deals, and then stocking up when they find them. As a result, we're seeing a stronger response to promotions than we've seen in some time. Yet, consumers are still willing to spend when they find the right combination of newness and value, and they're continuing to celebrate important seasonal moments throughout the year."

From TJX: