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I think your parent post means "not optimistic [about Target's financial situation]".

by InefficientRed 4y ago

whimsicalism 4y ago
The claim was never "Target's financials are going to go great," it was about return to normalcy.
- InefficientRed 4y ago
  > The claim was never "Target's financials are going to go great," it was about return to normalcy. I guess I don't quite understand what is happening in this conversation :) From my perspective, OP explained why the outlook is negative for target and you asked "why wouldn't i [whimsicalism] be optimistic about [lower inflation]?". To which the answer is, "well, you aren't target... you can be optimistic about that, that's prefectly ok, but it's also sort of immaterial to OP's post which was about Target's current situation." OP wasn't analyzing whimsicalism's financial situation; they were analyze Target's financial situation. It's possible that you should be optimistic and target should be pessimistic. I'm either wildly misinterpreting the flow of ideas here or your responses just don't make any sense at all. I'm not sure which.
  - whimsicalism 4y ago
    The original post was arguing "Seems like we are returning to normal." The response about not being so optimistic, to me, reads like a commentary on that claim. But companies lowering prices because they are not having as much trouble acquiring goods would seem to be a return to normal to me.
    - zdragnar 4y ago
      > But companies lowering prices because they are not having as much trouble acquiring goods would seem to be a return to normal to me. That isn't what is happening. Target is offering discounts because people aren't buying what they have in stock, not because their supply costs are going down. If anything, it'll force prices to stay high on other goods as they need to make up the losses elsewhere. To whit [1]: "Target set off alarms three weeks ago — its shares tumbled more than 25 percent — after reporting a 52 percent drop in first-quarter net profit. The Minneapolis-based company cited supply-chain pressures and rising expenses, factors that also hurt Walmart and helped spark a broader market sell-off that erased more than 1,100 points from the Dow Jones industrial average. Target now expects to sell fewer products in its home categories. It continues to see strong sales in high-frequency goods like groceries, household essentials and beauty products, largely reflecting consumer trends away from the U.S. shopping boom at the height of the pandemic. It also revised its second-quarter profit expectations from 5.3 percent to 2 percent, according to a Tuesday news release." [1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/06/07/target-profit-inventory/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/06/07/target-pr... Other articles elsewhere have also pointed out the discounts are an effort to purge stale inventory, which lines up with them also cancelling orders from their suppliers. If they were cutting costs because supply issues were smoothing out, that would be great. Like I said in a sibling comment, it's going to take some time yet before things stabilize to a "new normal".
      - whimsicalism 4y ago
        Demand lessening and firms lowering prices is exactly how inflation lessens. Not sure what else to say.
        zdragnar 4y ago
        They're not cutting prices across the board. They're cutting prices on specific stock they have a glut of that their consumers can't afford anymore. Inflation is measured across a wide range of goods- a one-time discount on select items isn't going to budge the needle, or a sign of improvement.

I think your parent post means "not optimistic [about Target's financial situation]".

whimsicalism 4y ago

The claim was never "Target's financials are going to go great," it was about return to normalcy.

InefficientRed 4y ago
> The claim was never "Target's financials are going to go great," it was about return to normalcy. I guess I don't quite understand what is happening in this conversation :) From my perspective, OP explained why the outlook is negative for target and you asked "why wouldn't i [whimsicalism] be optimistic about [lower inflation]?". To which the answer is, "well, you aren't target... you can be optimistic about that, that's prefectly ok, but it's also sort of immaterial to OP's post which was about Target's current situation." OP wasn't analyzing whimsicalism's financial situation; they were analyze Target's financial situation. It's possible that you should be optimistic and target should be pessimistic. I'm either wildly misinterpreting the flow of ideas here or your responses just don't make any sense at all. I'm not sure which.
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  The original post was arguing "Seems like we are returning to normal." The response about not being so optimistic, to me, reads like a commentary on that claim. But companies lowering prices because they are not having as much trouble acquiring goods would seem to be a return to normal to me.
  - zdragnar 4y ago
    > But companies lowering prices because they are not having as much trouble acquiring goods would seem to be a return to normal to me. That isn't what is happening. Target is offering discounts because people aren't buying what they have in stock, not because their supply costs are going down. If anything, it'll force prices to stay high on other goods as they need to make up the losses elsewhere. To whit [1]: "Target set off alarms three weeks ago — its shares tumbled more than 25 percent — after reporting a 52 percent drop in first-quarter net profit. The Minneapolis-based company cited supply-chain pressures and rising expenses, factors that also hurt Walmart and helped spark a broader market sell-off that erased more than 1,100 points from the Dow Jones industrial average. Target now expects to sell fewer products in its home categories. It continues to see strong sales in high-frequency goods like groceries, household essentials and beauty products, largely reflecting consumer trends away from the U.S. shopping boom at the height of the pandemic. It also revised its second-quarter profit expectations from 5.3 percent to 2 percent, according to a Tuesday news release." [1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/06/07/target-profit-inventory/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/06/07/target-pr... Other articles elsewhere have also pointed out the discounts are an effort to purge stale inventory, which lines up with them also cancelling orders from their suppliers. If they were cutting costs because supply issues were smoothing out, that would be great. Like I said in a sibling comment, it's going to take some time yet before things stabilize to a "new normal".
    - whimsicalism 4y ago
      Demand lessening and firms lowering prices is exactly how inflation lessens. Not sure what else to say.
      - zdragnar 4y ago
        They're not cutting prices across the board. They're cutting prices on specific stock they have a glut of that their consumers can't afford anymore. Inflation is measured across a wide range of goods- a one-time discount on select items isn't going to budge the needle, or a sign of improvement.