> 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 happe

> 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".