Posted on 01/13/2014 12:29:13 PM PST by Red in Blue PA
A few weeks after consumers finished unwrapping presents, a wave of retailers are gifting Wall Street with lumps of coal.
On Monday, Lululemon Athletica and Express became the latest retailers to warn investors of disappointing earnings in the holiday quarter. These negative forecasts follow similar warnings last week from a range of retail companies, including American Eagle Outfitters and Zumiez. In response, Lululemon stock shed 16 percent and Express shares dropped about 2.5 percent.
In a release Monday, Lululemon's CFO said the company had seen "traffic and sales trends decelerate meaningfully" since the beginning of January. Because of that, Lululemon cut its net revenue forecast and revised its fourth-quarter guidance from flat same-store sales to a decline in the low-to-mid-single digits.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Express said the specialty retailer had "a drop in traffic that was even deeper than anticipated as consumers waited until much closer to Christmas to shop." To draw them, Express extended and deepened discounts—a promotional environment it expects to maintain amid what it sees as "weak" January traffic.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Wow, what a surprise in the midst of our “recovery”.
Gonna be WAY worse in 2014 as the massive obamacare insurance rate increases and massive out-of-pocket increases kick in for millions.
Hard to believe what anyone does or says anymore(P. T. Barnum economics).
The recovery is always over there, just over the horizon. Year in, year out.
This won’t be covered in the middle of “All Christie, All the Time”.
Discretionary income will plummet this year, especially in 2H14 a the employer mandate kicks.
Internet sales are somewhat responsible. If you add up retail+internet sales each Christmas season then maybe there has not been a decline
Couple that with the abysmal job-generation numbers from Friday, and what we have is a an economy that, thanks to five years of socialism, is FUBAR.
One retailer blames “bad weather.” A crock. When will someone report honestly that the slump is the result of Obamacare sticker shock?
The economy is not recovering. That 4.1% GDP number reported a couple of weeks ago is completely bogus.
This holiday season is worse than we’re hearing. We may not believe the government generated statistics anymore (I haven’t believed the unemployment numbers since Clinton was in office) but publicly traded corporations reports are a bit more believable.
Bingo, you just won first prize, a day free from Obamaganda.
“I’m inclined to believe that retail numbers are a lot worse than anything reported.
“One retailer blames “bad weather.” A crock. When will someone report honestly that the slump is the result of Obamacare sticker shock?”
No one, even so called conservative business watchers/writers want to say that Obamacare Sticker Shock lowered the holiday sales last year.
Then across the country, due to Obamacare Sticker Shock, people don’t have money to spend in stores. That will get worse, not better as we roll along.
Some of us including me have been warning others about the ObamaCare Grinch ruining Christmas and impacting sales this year.
I don't think the average consumer can sustain discretionary spending, hardly at all. I've taken a hard look at my utility and technology bills, and the fees and taxes have gotten so bad that it's taking away a lot of money that used to be spent.
It would be nice to know how much of the holiday season sales that happened increased consumer debt....that would be money going to China that the US consumer is responsible for.
Add to that the situation we have that credit card purchases aren't really safe. (I'll still feel safe with the Amazon card, on Amazon...if they fail, the economy stops) At least some people will avoid credit card purchases for retail. That's got to hurt the economy.
I'm on the front lines and I can confirm this, though there is more to it than Obamacare Sticker Shock (which really hasn't even hit, yet...)
Mall foot traffic is way off over the last 18-20 months. It was just about the time that America realized they were going to get a second Obama term, like it or not, that the decline began. My own store is converting well - we can get an ever-higher percentage of walk-ins to buy, but there are fewer than half the walk-ins we used to get - so we're pretty much treading water. Small stores in our area are getting mowed down left and right, but a surprising number of foolish optimists are popping up with new concepts to replace them. I fear many are downsized corporate types putting their life savings into one last gamble.
Wait another year - 2015 will be the real test.
The retail numbers are much, much more worse that reported. The reason that they were even that good is that most of the goods purchased were either on sale or discounted and they were for the biggest part, purchased on plastic [credit cards].
Yes, what you said. Retail is going to be the first to take a huge hit, followed by fast food and restaurants. From there, the domino effect will take us deep into a depression unlike anything most of us have lived through thus far.
The stock market was down almost 200 points today.
Yet one of the few stocks which went up (almost 5% at one point) was Ruger.
For some odd reason, guns are still selling/s
And in important news, NJFatboy blocked off some traffic lanes....
Yeah, those dirty retailers just refuse to help Obama fix the economy!
This past Christmas, the kids got nice warm winter clothing. No fancy electronics.
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