Kurt Barnard
Kurt Barnard
consumers emphasis modestly spending word year
Consumers still aren't in a spending mood, ... This year is going to be modestly better. The emphasis is on the word 'modest.'
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There's a general sense of weakness and caution and I'll tell you the headlines in the newspapers these days do not help, ... We're seeing more layoffs and consumers are beginning to feel there's a cold winter breeze suddenly blowing their way.
beginning blowing breeze caution cold consumers days general headlines layoffs newspapers seeing suddenly weakness winter
There's a general sense of weakness and caution and I'll tell you, the headlines in the newspapers these days do not help. We're seeing more layoffs and consumers are beginning to feel there's a cold winter breeze suddenly blowing their way.
deep itself question remains resolve trouble
There's no question that Kmart is in deep trouble, and how that trouble is going to resolve itself remains to be seen,
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There's no question that competition in retailing is rampant and out of hand. It's getting increasingly difficult for companies to keep their heads above water. That's why the industry is getting into gear for more merger activity.
bargain consumers continue days hunt next question simply
There's no question it's been very anemic. Now the big question is, will the bargain hunt continue into the next 16 to 17 days before Christmas, or will consumers just simply go shopping?
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The worst part of these results is that they show that the effect of the tax rebate checks has petered out. This is a nightmare in itself for retailers and it doesn't bode well for Christmas. Also, we'll probably see more markdowns now, more than retailers anticipated for the holidays. That will hurt their bottom line.
companies consumer controls decent demand difficult economic evidence good however inventory nobody orders planning spring time until
They are all planning very cautiously, very carefully. Some companies have very decent inventory controls, but however good those controls are they still have to do some economic forecasting, and forecasting is a little difficult this time around. Nobody is going to spring for big orders until there's evidence that consumer demand is back, and there is no such evidence to date.
clear consumer decent evidence expect holiday last modest sales slow spending three
The sales clear evidence of modest consumer spending slow down. We expect a decent holiday sales season, but an unspectacular one. The last three have been spectacular, particularly the last one.
consumers good half retailers time wary
This is not the time for runaway enthusiasm. The first half was very good for retailers but consumers are going to be very wary in the second-half, ... if we're lucky.
suddenly surprise turned weather
This is really the surprise of the year. We should have really anticipated it because suddenly the weather turned very cold.
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The weather was a factor and the effects of higher gasoline prices are finally catching up with retailers at the registers. Beyond that, I think we're likely to see softness for the next two to three months.
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This certainly came as a total surprise, but maybe it shouldn't have. I think we're looking at a real estate deal here.
bad context viewed within worse year
This is actually a little worse than I expected, and particularly bad when viewed within the context of a year ago, which was already very weak.