Investors eye possible downturn in consumer discretionary spending
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Investors are pricing in the impact of inflation on pockets of consumer discretionary spending after the consumer price report showed inflation at 7.9% for February.
Discounters Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings (OLLI
-3.8%), Big Lots (BIG
-5.2%), Tuesday Morning (TUES), Dollar Tree (DLTR
-1.3%), BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ
-2.0%) and PriceSmart (PSMT
-0.4%) all fell in early trading on Thursday.
Department store stocks Dillard's (DDS
-3.2%) and Kohl's (KSS
-0.3%) traded down, as well as some mall stocks like Gap (GPS
-0.7%), Lululemon (LULU
-0.8%) and J. Jill (JILL
-0.1%). Specialty retailers Kirkland's (KIRK
-9.1%), Honest Company (HNST
-2.1%) and Best Buy (BBY
-1.8%) were also notably lower.
Target (NYSE:TGT)
-1.65% and Costco (NASDAQ:COST)
-0.67% were also lower, but Walmart (NYSE:WMT) bucked the trend with a 1.22% gain in the early going.
"With the current spike in oil prices not reflected in the February CPI, further/renewed acceleration next month seems all but guaranteed," noted Bankrate.com chief financial analyst Greg McBride on the print. "The pervasiveness of price increases continues, but it is most acute for necessities such as food, shelter, and energy which were the biggest contributors," he added.
Dig further into the CPI report.