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Retail's Tough 2019: Tariffs, Skittish Buyers, No Room for Error

No Company Wants to Win This Round of Retail Earnings Bingo

(Bloomberg) -- New tariffs, skittish consumers and no margin for error: 2019 is shaping up to be more challenging than expected for U.S. retailers.

Here’s an unscientific look at what happened last quarter, based on conference calls and statements from the companies over the past two weeks. Call it retail bingo, but it’s not a game anyone wants to win:

Retail's Tough 2019: Tariffs, Skittish Buyers, No Room for Error

Now that most major companies have reported first-quarter results, the overarching theme is a dimmer outlook for what may come next. After largely escaping last year’s levies on Chinese goods, retailers are bracing for a big hit ahead if the latest tariffs on $300 billion of consumer goods -- think everything from clothing and shoes -- is implemented.

How bad is it? The shares of 26 of the 27 members of the S&P 500’s Retailing Index have fallen in the past month. Even companies with strong results, like treasure-hunt emporium TJX Cos., soccer-mom favorite Target Corp. and discount king Walmart Inc., have been weighed down by concerns in the wider industry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Boyle in New York at mboyle20@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net, Cécile Daurat, Anne Riley Moffat

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.