🧵 on why consumer spending is defying the odds and staying strong
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With unemployment remaining near record lows, consumer spending has defied expectations — and experience-focused companies are at an advantage.
The deflationistas have been working themselves into a tizzy since Walmart Inc. Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon warned of a period of declining prices at the big-box retailer in the months to come.
We’ve long warned of relying too much on CEO forecasts, as most are not forecasting at all. They are nowcasting, simply stating what has already happened and treating it as a forecast.
The following chart suggests this is precisely what McMillon is doing.
3/7
The CPI report calls “general merchandise” CPI Commodities Less Food and Energy.
The blue line above shows its 6-month annualized change is currently in deflationary territory. And it has been in and out of deflation by this metric for almost a year.
The SPX has rallied 6.5% over 8 days, the best rally since 2021.
So, where does that leave things?
YTD
Micro-cap in green (bottom 1k of RTY) down
Small-Cap in orange (RTY) down
Mid-cap in brown (MID) Unch
Large-Cap in black (SPX) up
Mega-Cap Tech in blue (NDX) up huge
2/4
Take out the Mag7 stocks (red), and the "other 493" stocks are up less than 1%.
3/4
Combined all the indices above into the Russell 3000 (RAY), take out the Mag7, and the "other 2993" is less than 1%.