One investing expert says that retail earnings may be too bearish on the state of the consumer.
Andy Sieg, president of Merrill Wealth Management, told Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday that some of the reads on the retailers are more pessimistic about the state of the consumer than what our data shows.
When looking at checking and savings accounts across Bank of America, we see our client base, which is 67 million households across the U.S. in strong positions. "The balances and checking accounts are more than double what they were before the epidemic," Sieg said.
He said that consumers are more optimistic than many today because they have built their savings and have an ability to weather some of the inflation and other waves that are buffeting them right now.
The biggest intraday falls of Target TGT and Walmart occurred this week, as they both saw their biggest intraday falls since the crash of 1987. Both giant retailers disappointed Wall Street with their quarterly results and outlook. Their performance highlighted how high inflation is impacting consumers and shifting their buying patterns.
The markets sold off heavily on Wednesday. The S&P 500 GSPC saw its worst daily decline since June 2020.
As a retail investor, one of the things we need to be aware of is that this is a time when emotions are high. Sieg says that we have to maintain some calm and balance and keep our eyes focused on medium and long-term goals.