Kurt Barnard

Kurt Barnard
beginning christmas consumer cost economy everybody exciting extra families far gas gasoline high landing less means month pump soft spending toll worried year
Everybody is worried about a soft landing for the economy and a contraction of consumer spending. And come Christmas it will be far less exciting than a year ago. The high cost at the gas pump is beginning to take its toll and for a lot of families spending an extra $20-to-$25 a month on gasoline means spending that much less on stores.
effect events foolhardy housing number pensions point send spine ways
Oil, jobs, housing prices, unfunded pensions and geopolitical events that could go any number of ways will have an effect in 2006. At this point it's foolhardy to forecast. Any one of those things could send shivers up the spine of consumers.
basically charge ready step
He (Loeb) has been in charge for a long time. He is basically ready to step down.
consumers emphasis modestly spending word year
Consumers still aren't in a spending mood, ... This year is going to be modestly better. The emphasis is on the word 'modest.'
fourth holiday intensely nature quarter reflect shopping
The fourth quarter is going to reflect the intensely promotional nature of the holiday shopping season, make no mistake.
forecast hopefully layoffs pace pickup sales until
I think the NRF forecast is hopefully optimistic. I don't see a pickup in sales until the pace of layoffs slows down.
forecast hopefully layoffs pace pickup sales until
I think the NRF forecast is hopefully optimistic, ... I don't see a pickup in sales until the pace of layoffs slows down.
available bricks carry click dominant elsewhere factor future highly internet kinds lies operations pure simply
I think the future lies in two different kinds of Internet players. The one is the bricks and clicks, and that will be the dominant factor in the business, ... The other one will be highly specialized pure play click operations that carry things, do things that are simply not available elsewhere through other channels.
suddenly surprise turned weather
This is really the surprise of the year. We should have really anticipated it because suddenly the weather turned very cold.
accept anticipate bring consumer future good growth massive slow strong time willing
It is a good time if you're willing to accept slow growth and slow improvement. We do not anticipate at this time that the foreseeable future will bring a real strong massive upturn in consumer spending.
martha needs people products retail sales selling suffer terminal
Retail sales of Martha Stewart products won't suffer in a terminal way because right now Kmart needs Martha more than Martha needs Kmart. Her products are selling well because people really like them.
ahead home lifestyles mile remember stay top
Just remember one thing - the competitive world around Home Depot is changing. Lifestyles are changing. He has stay not just on top of those changes, but a mile ahead of them.
almost amount condition huge inventory repair surprising
Kmart is in a condition of repair right now, ... It is almost surprising they are down only 2 percent. They have a huge amount of over-age inventory they have to unload.
exactly overall represent results sales
Sales results were not exactly exceptional and they do represent a slowdown in the overall economy,