Retail Earnings Say a Lot About US Consumers — None of It Good

Hey, US shoppers — How are you doing? From what I can tell so far, the answer seems to be: not great.

With the government shutdown delaying data on retail sales and personal consumption, investors, economics (and yes, columnists) have had to rely on earnings and commentary from the nation’s big retailers to get a sense of how shoppers are feeling. And while companies have offered some hopeful news here and there, most of what they’ve had to say has not been pretty.