Risk, returns & timeframes illustration
1 min read
February 25, 2022
by

Retail sales go boom!

Shopping like it’s hot? Not just you, babe. 🛍 US consumers are spending like it’s Black Friday errday! 📈 Which is music to the ears of big box behemoths, who sell everything from whiskey to diamonds. Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching! 💳 Find out what’s driving the spending frenzy. 🛒
1 min read
February 25, 2022
by

Retail sales go boom!

Shopping like it’s hot? Not just you, babe. 🛍 US consumers are spending like it’s Black Friday errday! 📈 Which is music to the ears of big box behemoths, who sell everything from whiskey to diamonds. Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching! 💳 Find out what’s driving the spending frenzy. 🛒
1 min read
February 25, 2022
by

Retail sales go boom!

Shopping like it’s hot? Not just you, babe. 🛍 US consumers are spending like it’s Black Friday errday! 📈 Which is music to the ears of big box behemoths, who sell everything from whiskey to diamonds. Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching! 💳 Find out what’s driving the spending frenzy. 🛒
Table of contents
Getting Started Investing course
Free Getting Started Course
Take your first, or next, step to becoming a confident investor with Hatch's free online course – just 10 minutes a day, for 10 days.
The Fry up logo with fried egg
Weekly news from Wall St
Subscribe to The Fry Up - your weekly sizzle of headline-grabbing share market news. Read by 65,000 Kiwis to help them take charge of their investing journey.

Are you buying more things lately? Or doing your bit to combat inflation by ‘buying nothing’? In the US, where stimulus checks helped to fatten wallets through the pandemic, Americans have been spending money like it’s going out of fashun. US retail sales in January 2022 rocketed 25% ahead of the same period in 2020, before Covid took over our lives, and it makes for one helluva chart! 📈 Meanwhile, spending on services has only nudged up around 6%, and according to Bloomberg, the extra rush to spend on goods has been one of the big drivers of inflation since those initial lockdown add-to-cart shopping sprees began. 

And while consumers have been makin’ it rain money, big box behemoths like Costco (COST) and Walmart (WMT) have been soaking it up. Costco Wholesale saw sales go ballistic this January, and not just for their legendary US$1.50 hotdog and soda combo! 🌭🥤 The company reported that comparable same store sales in the US exploded 9.5%. Not only is Costco the largest wine seller in the US, but the company continues to spread their low-cost wings globally. Costco is even set to land in NZ’s own West Auckland later this year, but if you’re after some of that sweet, sweet big-box wine, you’ll have to wait. Strict West Auckland liquor licensing means alcohol sales will be off the table. But you may pick up a diamond ring with your weekly shop. 💍

World’s largest retailer Walmart (WMT) also had a very merry Christmas, reporting their largest holiday season ever, growing comparable sales by 5.6%. Can all this spending hold? Walmart reckons, yep, and have forecast sales to grow modestly in 2022. But as the battle against inflation heats up, higher interest rates could still suck the fun out of the spending spree, seeing people channel spare cash into higher interest payments on mortgages. We might just settle for a $1.50 Costco hotdog. 😐

We’re not financial advisors and Hatch news is for your information only. However dazzling our writing, none of it is a recommendation to invest in any of the companies or funds mentioned. If you want support before making any investment decisions, consider seeking financial advice from a licensed provider. We’ve done our best to ensure all information is current when we pushed ‘publish’ on this article. And of course, with investing, your money isn’t guaranteed to grow and there’s always a risk you might lose money.

Join the Kiwis who are hatching their tomorrow and have invested more than $1 billion with Hatch.

Explore another series
Tax
Money
Economy
Investing

More recent news articles

Recent learn articles

7 min read
Aug 20, 2024

Was August’s ‘Manic Monday’ a storm in a teacup?

July US job market data was just one catalyst for August’s US share markets’ ‘Manic Monday’. The fear index had been climbing since mid-July, Bank of Japan hiked interest rates, and the Nikkei plummeted 10% in two days. So how are global share markets connected, and could a Texas Stock Exchange boost the American economy?
Read more
7 min read
Jul 30, 2024

Is Trump good for the US economy?

The Olympics and CrowdStrike have opened Q3 with a bang that’s seen some single stocks triumphant while others go back to the drawing board. With the US elections taking place in November, how can we expect the overall markets to respond?
Read more
6 min read
Jul 9, 2024

Can Nike’s Olympic dream rebound stock after 20% plummet?

Kiwi athletes are not the only ones aiming for Olympic gold in Paris this July. Nike is pinning hopes on the ‘pinnacle’ event to gain exposure, with the Olympic Committee for the first time allowing non-sponsor brands to post Olympic content in social media. Could the Games help Nike reach for gold, up from their expected 10% sales dip?
Read more

Related news articles

More recent learn articles

No items found.

Recent news articles

More recent learn articles

7 min read
Aug 20, 2024

Was August’s ‘Manic Monday’ a storm in a teacup?

July US job market data was just one catalyst for August’s US share markets’ ‘Manic Monday’. The fear index had been climbing since mid-July, Bank of Japan hiked interest rates, and the Nikkei plummeted 10% in two days. So how are global share markets connected, and could a Texas Stock Exchange boost the American economy?
Read more
7 min read
Jul 30, 2024

Is Trump good for the US economy?

The Olympics and CrowdStrike have opened Q3 with a bang that’s seen some single stocks triumphant while others go back to the drawing board. With the US elections taking place in November, how can we expect the overall markets to respond?
Read more
6 min read
Jul 9, 2024

Can Nike’s Olympic dream rebound stock after 20% plummet?

Kiwi athletes are not the only ones aiming for Olympic gold in Paris this July. Nike is pinning hopes on the ‘pinnacle’ event to gain exposure, with the Olympic Committee for the first time allowing non-sponsor brands to post Olympic content in social media. Could the Games help Nike reach for gold, up from their expected 10% sales dip?
Read more