It's super Thursday, when same-store sales from many of the nation's retailers hit the Street, and the outlook for the holiday-shopping season is looking less than cheerful.
Weakness in the housing sector, high prices at the pumps, and unseasonably warm weather kept consumers' wallets on a tight leash in October. Early estimates from the International Council of Shopping Centers/UBS indicate that overall U.S. same-store sales in October rose about 2%, missing analysts' previous growth target of 2.5%. Data from Thomson Financial indicates that 18 retailers have missed expectations, while 10 have exceeded.
Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics, told The New York Times that "Overall, the sales trend continues to slow . . . I think the consumer is certainly feeling the [economic] pressure heading into the holidays."
For many investors, putting money in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is like investing in America. Wal-Mart stands for everything that your stereotypical middle American does; sprawling properties, gigantic packages of Suave(TM) and Snickers(TM) and Snoop Dogg (TM, probably). Wal-Mart is to retail what the Hummer is to automobiles. Big, resource-hungry, and not entirely respectful of the little guy. And along with America, Wal-Mart seemed like the never-ending growth story. Sometimes I thought the Waltons' place in the billionaires' top 10 would never be equalled.
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