As Consumer Spending Worsens, Sears (SHLD) Moves In The Cross Hairs

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published

R218533_855025Consumer sentiment and consumer spending may be bad today, but according to a major new survey, they are going to get much worse over the next three months. Among the largest victims of the slowdown are Sears (SHLD), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY) and Macy’s (M).

New data from research firm ChangeWave shows nearly three-in-five (59%) respondents now say they’ll spend less money over the next 90 days, 7-points worse than previously indicated. The current study of 2,763 US consumers was done from October 27 – November 3. The last report from the firm was done in September. Only one-in-ten (10%) respondents say they’ll spend more – 8-points worse than previously shown.

The analysis also shows, "Consumer Electronics remains one of the weakest of all spending categories, a big change from past holiday seasons when a surge in the sector normally occurs at this time of the year.  Only 19% say they’ll spend more on Consumer Electronics over the next 90 days compared to 43% who say less – a net 40-pts worse than one year ago. "

In terms of major retailers, "For the sixth consecutive survey, Costco (COST; Net Score = +8) and Wal-Mart (WMT; +5) remain the retail leaders going forward. Once again, it’s traditional retailers – Sears (SHLD; -13), Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY; -12), Macy’s (M; -10), JC Penney (JCP; -9) and Linens N Things (-8) – that are showing the greatest weakness going forward."

Douglas A. McIntyre

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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