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How U.S. Retailers Are Absorbing The Fuel-Price Shock
How U.S. Retailers Are Absorbing The Fuel-Price Shock
We have diligently tracked the Gulf-related fuel-price shock hitting the American consumer, with prices rising at the fastest rate in three years, personal savings depleted, and spending still running hot, a trend Goldman flags as increasingly troubling for the broader economy. This cocktail has revived uncomfortable memories of the 1970s: higher energy costs, squeezed households, and a consumer still spending into weakness.
But another important area of coverage is how companies are faring as freight, fuel, and supplier costs, along with tariff pressures,...
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Apr 1, 2026 / Tyler Durden
John Mearsheimer Asks: Will Trump Go Kamikaze?
John Mearsheimer Asks: Will Trump Go Kamikaze?
Authored by John Mearsheimer
There is much talk about President Trump preparing to launch a ground attack against Iran. In the media discourse, much is made of the fact we have about 50,000 troops in the region. See for example these three articles.
One might think those are all combat troops and we therefore have roughly three combat divisions available to invade Iran. But that is not true.
Until recently, there were about 40,000 US troops in the region, which were mainly a mixture of Air Force,...
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Jun 4, 2026 / Tyler Durden
Five Below Plunges After Earnings Beat, Warns Consumer Boost From Tax Refunds Is Ending
Five Below Plunges After Earnings Beat, Warns Consumer Boost From Tax Refunds Is Ending
Five Below's core customer base is tweens, teens, and value-conscious households. That makes management's warning on Wednesday's earnings call particularly notable: the retailer is directly exposed to trends in low-end discretionary spending.
"We're looking at the world that our customers are living in: with rising fuel costs, with very sticky inflation, with a somewhat—soft labor market. And we think a piece of that pain that they are feeling wasn't felt in the first quarter purely because...
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Jul 5, 2026 / Tyler Durden
Food Retailers Troubled By This Chart
Food Retailers Troubled By This Chart
Consumer staples and food retail equity analyst Scott Marks at Jefferies told clients Saturday that one of the most concerning charts for food retailers is the sharp decline in average benefits per SNAP participant under the Trump administration, as the USDA intensifies efforts to root out fraud, waste, and abuse.
SNAP's elevated payment error rates are setting up a new fiscal fight between the Trump administration and states.
Marks said food retailers are caught in the crosshairs:
SNAP error rates set up state cost-sharing showdown. USDA...
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