Michael Niemira
Michael Niemira
clearly concerns consumer dispel economic gas goes growth impact increases performance positive price results says strong surprised
The strong May performance goes a long way to dispel concerns about the impact of gas price increases on consumer spending, ... I am surprised that the positive results were so widespread. It says 'Gee, the economic growth is clearly countering some of these other drags.'
consumers helped holiday late lift
Procrastinating consumers and a late Hanukkah (December 25) helped to lift the holiday season's performance.
consumers headed holiday promotions provided retailers season selling
As the 'traditional' holiday selling season got underway on Friday, consumers headed to those retailers who provided promotions and discounts.
consumer continue credit hang major passive spend tends unless
Basically, the consumer will hang in there. Unless there's some kind of a major problem, the consumer tends to be more passive and will continue to spend if credit is available.
consumer relatively remained robust spending
Consumer spending has remained relatively robust into 2006.
consumer filter healthy oil prices question react relatively rest sales shows
It shows a relatively healthy sales picture. The question is how will the consumer react when oil prices filter through the rest of the economy.
bit consumer last lower planning question retailers season spend weekend
Retailers have been planning for that lower traffic. The question now is, will the consumer in the last weekend of the season spend a little bit more or not?
although categories consumers december furniture held home last looking month november power purchasing retail sales seems shifted
Looking at November and December together, it seems that retail sales held up pretty well during the holidays, although last month consumers shifted their purchasing power to other categories such as furniture and home goods.
consumer holiday increases softness underlying worry
The consumer is still very cautious. There was underlying softness in November. It increases the worry about the holiday as a whole.
driven holiday largely promotions provide retailers season start strength strong
The strength was largely driven by promotions and did not provide as strong of a start to the holiday season as some retailers would have liked.
open season
Is it enough to say this season could be more than OK? That's still an open question.
april economy employment fear number performance starting strong together
This number together with the strong April employment performance assuages the fear that the economy was starting to decline.
broader costs decent doubt economy financial growth happens later markets negatives profits remains summer time whether work
No doubt the financial markets are anticipating that something could change. Whether that happens this summer or later remains to be seen, ... There are some broader negatives in the economy right now but the they will take a long time to work through. For now, we can still get decent growth in profits even as costs rise.
came late met modest phase
Phase one, at least, met very modest expectations. It came late and it was uneven.