Retail Giants Warn the Economy Is Slowing

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We’re going to take a deeper dive into the economy, not the, know, just the AI and tech sector profits are booming and they’re doing very, very well. We’re going to look at things, another part of the economy. We’re going to look at Lowe’s, we’re going to look at Walmart, and we’re going to look at Home Depot and what they had to say. The CEO of Lowe’s warned that consumers are very reluctant to splurge on big ticket home improvement items. Again, they’re not expecting any marked improvement in underlying demand. Home Depot foot traffic has been negative for five straight quarters. They are offering a very cautious outlook. Walmart, the same thing. Talking about what their consumers are doing and what how they’re buying patterns.

are changing to some degree. They also pointed out as well in regards to their gas purchases are down. And historically, when gas purchases are down at Walmart, then it means that there’s going to be a slowing in the economy. You also have to take a look right now. groceries getting more expensive. Price of groceries up 2.9 % in April compared with the same month a year earlier.

That’s the highest year over year inflation rate for the category since August of 2023. Tomatoes 40 % more expensive than they were this time last year. Not just the monetary inflation, you also had some bad weather, tariffs is a part of it, and obviously rising fuel prices, coffee up 20%. The problem is is that

Most people are saying that the effects of what’s taken place in Hormuz in the war hasn’t really even filtered down fully yet into groceries and what we’re going to be paying, it’s going to get much, much worse. Again, talking about people like you used to it the K-shaped economy, a bifurcated economy, no doubt there’s issues on that end. It’s going to be a block of people that are

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It’s gonna be interesting, to say the least, see how they’re gonna come out and vote come the fall. This is something that, you know, quite frankly, and again, I did a podcast on this, my advice to the president, listen, to me, of course, I don’t give a damn about your arch. These people that are affected by this, they don’t give a damn about your arch, they don’t give a damn about your ballroom, okay? They just want prices to come down.

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