Spoke with a manager at HD
He said they are "surviving" and that their expansion has definitely hurt.
KSS will continue to get hit hard and remains a great short at 61.20
From the consumer's standpoint, any rate cut is too little too late. They are overextended and their 401 statements don't hold much hope
Tuesday March 13, 9:39 am Eastern Time
Retail Sales Off Unexpectedly in February
By Glenn Somerville
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales fell in February for the first time since November 2000 in a sign dented consumer confidence was feeding through into spending, the government said on Tuesday in a report supporting expectations for a sharp interest rate cut next week.
Sales at U.S. retailers dropped unexpectedly by 0.2 percent to $274.49 billion after an upwardly revised 1.3 percent January rise, the Commerce Department said. Previously, the department had said January sales were up 0.7 percent.
The report suggested that shellshocked consumers might be growing more cautious about spending in the face of dropping stock markets and uncertainty about the economy's prospects.
Still, analysts noted the upward revision to January's figures and said it did not appear the bottom was dropping out of spending, which fuels two-thirds of national economic activity.
``I think the interpretation of this is that so far this year (we are) off to a rocky start but not a disastrous start,'' said economist Bill Cheney of John Hancock Financial Services in Boston.
Financial markets took the data in stride, with prices for U.S. Treasury securities down slightly. Much of the market participants' attention has focused on whether a Monday rout in stock prices would continue into Tuesday.
SPENDING MOMENTUM WEAKER
``The momentum in February is clearly weaker,'' economist Jeff Palma of UBS Warburg in Stamford, Conn., said. ``We still are expecting a 50 basis point cut (half a percentage point) at the next Fed meeting though continued weakness in equities and a broadening out into some of the other markets will increase the likelihood of a 75 basis point move.''
Wall Street economists had forecast a 0.4 percent increase in February retail sales rather than a decline.
Sales by auto dealers edged up 0.2 percent in the month to $67.52 billion after rising 1.3 percent in January. Excluding autos, overall retail sales fell 0.3 percent last month after a 1.3 percent January gain.
Spending on new furniture dropped a sharp 1.9 percent to $14.23 billion after a 3.1 percent jump in January. Entertainment spending was down by 1.5 percent to $26.2 billion following a 3 percent January surge.
Economist Astrid Adolfson of MCM MoneyWatch in New York said the weakness in sales implied a slowdown was occurring across many types of spending, enough to keep Fed policymakers on edge as they prepare for next Tuesday's meeting to plot interest-rate strategy.
``It just confirms that the Fed needs to ease, definitely by 50 basis points, but not so urgently that it would move inter-meeting,'' Adolfson said, referring to the possibility that the Fed could trim rates before next Tuesday.
The U.S. central bank cut interest rates in January by a full percentage point in two half-point steps -- one a relatively rare inter-meeting move. The continuing reductions in rates are aimed at bolstering business and consumer confidence by making credit cheap enough to spur investment and spending.
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