Retail sector results have been somewhat mixed. We saw that while Target (TGT Quick QuoteTGT - Free Report) provided soft guidance and Macy’s (M Quick QuoteM - Free Report) complained about rising credit-card delinquencies, Walmart (WMT Quick QuoteWMT - Free Report) , TJX (TJX Quick QuoteTJX - Free Report) and others had good results.

This somewhat mixed showing notwithstanding, trends in consumer spending remain positive and reassuring. This suggests that the weak operators either didn’t execute well or had merchandize that was out-of-sync with what consumers wanted or both. Walmart continued to execute and that showed in its results.

Beyond the Retail sector, the Q2 earnings season has been a good one, with an above proportion of companies earnings estimates. This is significant since estimates hadn’t fallen by that much ahead of the start of the Q2 reporting cycle.

Earnings growth in the aggregate was weak in Q2, but a big part of the weakness was due to the Energy sector drag. Excluding the Energy sector, the year-over-year earnings decline in Q2 was fairly modest.

Importantly, estimates for the current period (2023 Q3) are holding up really well. The expectation is that Q3 will be the last quarter of earnings declines, with positive growth resuming from 2023 Q4 onwards.

For more details about the Q2 earnings season and the evolving revisions picture, please check out our weekly Earnings Trends report here >>>>>  Earnings Remain Stable: No Cliff in Sight