Even Walmart Is Worried About the US Consumer
Retailers have warned all year that strong household spending would fade. That might finally be happening.
The shopping spree may be ending.
Photographer: Tom Pennington/Getty Images
It seems like all we’ve heard this year from the major US retailers is how consumers are “under pressure” as pandemic-era savings run out and inflation rates remain elevated. Various surveys showing weak consumer sentiment have supported the assertions by retailers. The only problem is that the actual data proved otherwise, with consumer spending consistently coming in stronger than forecast.
So, as we head into the important end-of-year holiday shopping season, should we really be paying attention when Walmart Inc. says it’s being “more cautious on the consumer than we were 90 days ago at this time” and that there was a “sharper falloff” in sales during the last two weeks of the fiscal third quarter that ended Oct. 31? The answer is most definitely yes.