let's get right to bill simon former
walmart u.s ceo bill
you know the consumer as well as anyone
else you understand what's happening
with retail at this point
this is this that inflection point where
big box stores they can't pass along the
cost and consumers
maybe they can't even afford to pay
anymore
hey charles no i think there's a market
overreaction here i think what we're
looking at is actually a pretty healthy
consumer
top-line sales that most retailers were
actually quite good some some retailers
did a good job managing the cost changes
home depot had a good quarter walmart
target and some of the others are still
suffering a little bit of a hangover
from their their covet actions it wasn't
just a few months ago
target announced that they were going to
have their starting wages be from 15 to
24 an hour now you can't unwind that
they were dealing with supply chain
shortages not too long ago and labor
shortages and i think that they just
weren't able to change gears that
quickly as you could see from their uh
really high uh inventory numbers yeah i
mean i saw you know the home depot had
pricing power same store sells or comp
sales are up 11 on price
not so much uh to target but i think
it's the expectations the guidance right
just moments ago right as you were
coming on raw stores reported their
numbers another missed top and bottom
line but what's crushing the stock right
now
guidance the guidance is well below wall
street on the revenue side and earnings
side the stock is down 18 as we speak
another big retailer is going to get
crushed tomorrow and this time they're
saying it's because they won't be able
to match the sale so this is not about
even cost anymore or internal cost
pressures this is about maybe a
reluctant consumer
no i don't think so charles i think if
you look at the the real detail in it
food and discretionary purchases are
still
staying pretty robust the retailers like
ross and kohl's particularly they were
struggling before they went into this
i think as long as the top lines at
retailers like walmart and targets they
stay healthy i think we're going to be
okay when it comes to real uh wages real
purchasing power and all of these things
because we know nominally wages have
gone up it's been a real good period but
it's all eaten up by inflation
and almost everyone on wall street sees
the inflation issue lingering well into
next year maybe it comes down a little
bit maybe we're at the peak but it
doesn't mean it comes down quickly can
this can the u.s consumer hang in there
particularly the bottom half of the
household incomes i hear this number it
is two trillion two and a half trillion
in excess savings it's not distributed
evenly though is it
no of course it's not and i think i
think
the real thing to look forward to look
towards
is employment and there were some jobs
numbers that came out this morning that
weren't great but as long as the
unemployment rate stays robust and
people are employed with the wages that
are being pushed through because of the
demand side of the labor demand side i
think we're going to be okay if we start
seeing jobs
jobs shed at really large numbers i
think we'll start running a risk yeah
i'm a little worried about that too the
philly fed report today was really scary
that that employment part was cut in
half i got less than a minute to go
in the old days they said the best cure
for inflation best price the cure for
higher prices with higher prices that
doesn't seem to work anymore do we just
have to ride this out i mean or do we
need the fed to come in and almost break
this economy to break this fever
well i think the fed has to continue
with their action i think everybody
believes that you know the
the rule of thumb is that they're going
to have to get interest rates above the
rate of inflation and we still got a
long way to go to get there uh whether
the consumer can withstand that i think
depends on jobs if they can if they can
keep their jobs and and the wages hold
and they seem to be i think we'll be
okay all right always appreciate your
expertise on this particularly in these
times because this is a top story thank
you so much bill
thanks charles hey sean hannity here hey
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