BillCust

Consumer Slowdown? Retail Conference Calls Say Not Yet

Bill,
the timing this time is unique, but not the outcome.

Looks to me that the spending lagged a bit this time relative to "wealth" and "credit". The mentality was accustomed to available credit and non-production wealth creation (read: home value). But consumption always respond to the asset side of consumer balance sheet in a big way, although predicting the fluctuation in the asset value is a hard thing to do.

But the most recent data (consumer credit, home equity withdrawal $, and just the trade "dispersion" across stocks of the same industry - esp. if there is buyout rumors) suggests that the lag is not infinite from here on. :)