Wall Street Is Skeptical That Shoppers Can Keep Spending in 2024
- Analysts cut profit expectations for S&P discretionary sector
- ‘Revenue estimates are tumbling’ on demand doubts, BI says
Shoppers in the Magnificent Mile shopping district of Chicago.
Photographer: Taylor Glascock/BloombergAnalysts are growing increasingly doubtful that US consumer spending will hold up into next year, even as American shoppers continue to be surprisingly resilient despite lingering inflation and elevated borrowing costs.
Over the past 12 weeks, sell-side analysts have trimmed profit projections for the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector through the third quarter of next year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence equity strategists Gina Martin Adams and Michael Casper. The cuts, which were primarily driven by slumping revenue estimates, were enough to push the expected pace of consumer discretionary earnings growth below the S&P 500 Index’s anticipated pace of earnings growth before the middle of 2024.