iskander mejri

The "Resilient Consumer" just took a breather. 🛑 ​Today’s #USRetailSalesMissForecast confirms what many have felt: the holiday spending spree ended with a whimper, not a bang. December sales came in flat (0.0%) against a forecasted 0.4% gain. ​The Takeaway: ​Value Hunting: Shoppers are pivotting to essentials. Furniture and electronics took the biggest hits. ​The Silver Lining: Cooling spend = Cooling inflation. This puts a June rate cut back on the table for the Fed. 📉 ​The "Pull-Forward": It’s not that we aren’t spending; we just did it all in October and November to catch the early deals. ​Is the consumer "exhausted" or just getting smarter with their cash? Let’s discuss. 👇 $POWER