Walmart reported earnings that generally beat on revenue and earnings, but Wall Street was expecting more, which sent the company's stock tumbling. Discretionary purchases are down in general, which is also affecting rival Target as well as Home Depot.
While most of the numbers met or barely met expectations, it was Walmart's guidance that disappointed investors. Though Walmart slightly raised its guidance, it still failed to meet consensus estimates, especially due to the cautious tone it presented about the future outlook for U.S. shoppers.
In essence, Walmart is expecting a not-so-great future in the coming months and years. Even in the last two weeks of October, Walmart saw a "sharper falloff" in sales than was anticipated, pointing to shaky economic conditions.
"The takeaway for us is that we're seeing strength, we're seeing share gains versus others, but there still is pressure on the consumer," commented CFO John Rainey. "We are more cautious on the consumer than we were 90 days ago at this time."
(Related: Walmart's plan is to convert 65 percent of its stores to "automation," meaning no more human employees – just robots.)
Consumer spending on apparel, home goods and toys dropping
Instead of an expected rebound in discretionary consumer spending on what would be considered more non-essential items, Walmart saw a drop in discretionary purchases despite the upcoming holiday season.
The company warned about a "general merchandise sales reflected softness in discretionary categories including apparel, home and toys," which basically means that consumers in general are now so poor and cash-strapped that they can only afford essentials like food and medicine.
Target's earnings were even worse, but we are told that a market-wide short squeeze is keeping valuations much higher than what they fundamentally should be. In other words, the U.S. markets continue to be a corrupt farce, and do not reflect economic reality in any way.
Prior to the earnings report, Walmart saw an increase in its stock price this year so far of around 20 percent. Eight percent was shaved off of that following the not-so-appealing news about consumer spending trends.
"The canary in the coalmine was when Target said comp sales were down 4.9 percent, and that this holiday season will not be good," one commenter wrote about the news. "But they had cost-cutting moves (something like replacing benefit eligible full-timers with part-timers) and the stock popped 17 percent."
"Walmart and Target are the real world. Tesla and iPhone 15 are not."
Another person wrote that the U.S. economy is clearly falling apart, but that the Republicans are keeping the government funded. This means that "all eyes are on Biden, the Central Bank (CB) and the Treasury."
"U.S. retail sales fell for the first time in SEVEN months," this person added. "Seven out of 13 categories fell. Down were vehicles and parts, auto dealers, furniture, building materials, gasoline stations, sporting goods and general merchandise. Up were food and beverages and grocery stores, i.e., the essentials."
Another person wrote that he shops at Walmart pretty regularly and has noticed a lot of empty carts roaming the aisles.
"This gives me a pretty clear signal about what's really going on in the economy."
"Me too," responded another. "Also, I notice not only less in carts but people trading down. It's not just buying 'Great Value' generics instead of brands. It is also things like no one buying 'organic' or 'free range' chicken or pre-cut chicken. People switching to the mega-packs of the cheapest chicken. Steak not moving. People buying ground beef ... things like that."
How much longer will the fake U.S. economy last before the fiat house of cards crumbles to dust? Learn more at Collapse.news.
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