Economy

Retail Giants Post Higher Sales but Consumers Show Signs of Strain

Both Target and Walmart reported strong quarterly results but offered a cloudy outlook.
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Retail Giants Post Higher Sales but Consumers Show Signs of Strain
A Walmart store in Florida, on Aug. 5, 2025. JC Milhet/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
Panos Mourdoukoutas
|Updated:

Retail giants Target and Walmart reported higher sales for the fiscal first quarter this week, but offered a cloudy outlook amid signs of strain in the low-income segment of the consumer market.

Target reported $25.4 billion in sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, which ended on May 2, up by 6.7 percent from a year earlier. Comparable sales rose 5.6 percent, led by a 4.4 percent rise in traffic and strong growth across all six core merchandise categories.

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Panos Mourdoukoutas
Panos Mourdoukoutas
Author
Panos Mourdoukoutas is a professor of economics at Long Island University in New York City. He also teaches security analysis at Columbia University. He’s been published in professional journals and magazines, including Forbes, Investopedia, Barron's, IBT, and Journal of Financial Research. He’s also the author of many books, including “Business Strategy in a Semiglobal Economy” and “China's Challenge.”