The numbers look pretty good so far. We are seeing more surprises to the upside and this is a nice reversal of the trend that we had expected last month. Even among those retailers who missed our forecast, not many of them blamed gas prices for it. |
The teen specialty space blew the cover off the ball again. They had a fabulous month. |
The tough head winds are definitely there but March was still a decent month, |
There doesn't seem to be anything suggesting there is going to be a boom in spending in the second half, so estimates are probably a little bit high like last year. |
There wasn't a lot of color offered in press releases this morning on this great performance, but given the number of retailers that indicated strong gift card sales over the holidays, it looks like there were some pretty strong gift card redemptions taking place in January. Warm weather appears to have helped drive traffic as well and it helped retailers sell spring merchandise at full price. |
There were a number of factors that dampened consumer spending, |
There's a deep concern that if this thing goes on, a lot of Christmas merchandise hitting the docks can't be transferred. |
There's a feeling that consumer spending could certainly get a boost as the first Fed rate cuts will have been in place for 8-9 months. And people will start receiving their checks from the tax rebate. Things are looking up for the retailers. I think the comparisons are looking better too. |
These numbers are not good. As one analyst put it, October will be the nightmare before Christmas. |
These two companies have been lighting it up. They had a super December and they've generally been showing decent sales and earnings growth compared to other names in the specialty retail sector. |
They're going to have to watch the bottom line and the margins very closely, ... This holiday season, retailers are going to be fighting for customers and fewer discretionary dollars. |
This is setting a foundation for earnings to rebound. There might be some positive news in the second quarter. |
This is the weakest monthly increase in same-store sales since November 2004. |
This point last year, the Iraq war certainly did hurt consumer spending, ... Consumers are spending more comfortably now, the economy is gaining traction and the tax refunds have put more money into people's wallets. Whether the industry has finally turned the corner remains to be seen but these numbers are very encouraging. |
Wal-Mart dropped a bomb on the market with earnings guidance at the low end of its 82-86 cents range, as they clearly saw some margin pressure and most likely increased advertising and promotional expenses. |