Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Follow along to stay up to date! Is “The Consumer” Really Strong? This week Walmart and Home Depot reported earnings (I know, not the usual cloud software suspects!). But they did give us some insights into the health of the consumer and labor market. One one hand - the economy added >400k jobs in January and retail sales grew 3% month-over-month, both above expectations. For Walmart specifically, its comparable sales great 8% YoY. All of this data gave those arguing for the soft-landing more ammo. One the other hand - Walmart may have given us some canary-in-the-coal mine data points as well. They guided this year below expectations at ~3% YoY growth. More discretionary items didn’t do quite as well. Their general tone was that the consumer has been acting strong, but we may be getting to a tipping point where we see real pull back. Home Depot had a similar message. Their business is obviously more tied to the housing market, which is going through it’s own challenges (but all tied back to the broader economy). Home Depot’s CEO said last year the consumer was more resilient than they expected, but towards the end of the year they noted deceleration in certain product categories which was more pronounced in the fourth quarter.