A 5.5 and 8 percent drop is “plunging”? Why does this seem more like a modest decline?
Survival of the fittest. How’d Wal-Mart fare?
Such a rate of decline in government spending would be considered "catastrophic". Unless that decline came from defense spending, of course.
You’ve never worked retail? 8% can wipe you out.
or adjustment following a runaway growth period in which retailers and auto industry expanded too fast.
home builders overbuilt for the existing need.
bankers tried to force-fit people into homes they couldn't afford, not use - plus they too expanded the number of branches way beyond the needs of a community.(and built bank buildings kings and emperors would love)
perhaps some adjustment will be good for the economy and all of us regular folk!!
That's what my lady and I said when we watched the news tonight. I figure it is the retailers crying a big boo-hoo in preparation for requesting their bailout. "But we employ millions of people in every community in America! If we laid them off, we'd have to cut business hours, and that would make it tough on consumers trying to restart the economy!"
Hey, it works for Detroit...
"A record-breaking fall in industrial output figures for November showed that the country’s huge manufacturing economy is collapsing far more rapidly and painfully than even the bleakest market forecasts believed possible. The 8.1 per cent month-on-month slide — a dramatic collapse from the 3.1 per cent decline logged in October , stunned many economists. Richard Jerram, of Macquarie Securities, said that the pace of collapse had almost gone beyond the point of sensible analysis.
Seems an 8% month on month decline is "a pace of collapse had almost gone beyond the point of sensible analysis"
Buying more ammo tomorrow....
an 8 percent drop is 1/12 the way to zero which is the end of the human race. plus most businesses are leveraged at least 2 to one and some even more than that. 2 to one leverage means 8 percent feels like 16 percent. so yes 8 percent is plunging. it is like putting 10 percent down on your house and having home values drop by 15 percent. then you have lost 100 percent of your money plus even more.
an 8 percent drop is 1/12 the way to zero which is the end of the human race. plus most businesses are leveraged at least 2 to one and some even more than that. 2 to one leverage means 8 percent feels like 16 percent. so yes 8 percent is plunging. it is like putting 10 percent down on your house and having home values drop by 15 percent. then you have lost 100 percent of your money plus even more.
Stores are expected to post an 18.8 percent decline in fourth-quarter profits, marking the seventh consecutive period of profit declines, according to Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics LLC. He expects profits to keep tumbling into the first quarter, with predictions so far of a 10.4 percent drop.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081224/ap_on_bi_ge/last_minute_shopping_6
Considering we haven’t had a decrease in holiday spending in 50 years, a -8% (before factoring inflation of 4%) is depressionary? Especially when you consider that there are more locations open this year than last year (which means comps—which is what matters to a retailers bottom line) is probably down -12%. If you exclude Walmart remove another 3-5%.
“A 5.5 and 8 percent drop is “plunging”? Why does this seem more like a modest decline?”
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They probably operate on a rather thin margin so when sales drop this much they are running in the red. Fixed costs that cannot be rapidly cut back mean that a fairly small drop in volume can be catastrophic.