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Where consumers are spending and where they aren't, according to Citi

Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer breaks down Citi’s latest household spending report, comparing past years’ card spending for the month of February.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: So retailers from Macy's and Nordstrom to Lowe's and Home Depot have been warning of a slowing consumer spending in certain areas of their business. Well, new data out from Citi today showing where exactly their card customers are spending this time around. Josh Schafer is here with a breakdown of what those numbers are. And Josh, what are we seeing?

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah, so let's take a look here. So Citi's data shows various sectors comparing February card spend this year to spend in that same month last year. Up first, the worst performer, household appliances-- spending down roughly 20%. Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison noting in the company's earnings call, they're seeing similar trends as consumers are wary of a potential recession. Up next, you have electronics. This category down more than 8%, as consumers appear to be spending on more essential items like food at the grocery stores. Best Buy saying this week that despite a better than expected holiday quarter, they're, quote, "preparing for another down year" for the consumer electronics industry.

And total retail also seeing a hit here in spending from Citi card users, down 6% on the year. Executives there have said it's a bit more of a picker's market, where companies are bouncing off loading inventories with too many promotions. And finally, let's end on a positive note, one of the few positive notes. Spending on pets remaining resilient, up 7 and 1/2% in February, up from last year, Dave. So I guess, maybe you can cut back on all this stuff. You still probably gotta feed your pet, though, right?

DAVE BRIGGS: No question about it, man. I got that new farmer's market food for my dog-- loved it. Loved it. Super Bowl commercial, remember that?

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, yeah. It got you on board. It worked.

DAVE BRIGGS: So how's this playing for stocks in those sectors?

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah, so the spending doesn't always add up with what we see in stocks, right? So we said spending down in home appliances. You can see that sort of playing out with Lowe's here over the last month and Home Depot over the last month. But when you take a look at both of those companies on a year to date basis, not nearly as bad. Lowe's basically even year to date, and a little bit down for Home Depot, but not nearly down as bad as those sales numbers, those card numbers that we were looking at.

And then interesting when you take a look at Best Buy and we talk about consumer electronics. And you take a look at Best Buy over the last month. So you can see Best Buy down about 7%, 8% here. I want to compare it to Walmart, another company that sells consumer electronics, but also is sort of buoyed by that groceries business we've been talking about. So you can see Walmart pretty much even over the last month and also about even year to date. So Walmart holding up a little bit better than Best Buy because they have a little bit more of a diversified business there.

And finally, the pet stocks, the exciting stuff-- it's Friday. Let's take a look at Chewy. Chewy has had a decent little run year to date, up 8%. And then you take a look at Freshpet-- also up almost 20% year to date. So those pet stocks have been performing well at sort of matching the card data we're watching there with people spending at the pet companies, guys.

DAVE BRIGGS: Love that stuff. Pet spending-- let's keep it up. We love our pets. Josh Schafer--

JOSH SCHAFER: Gotta feed the dogs.

DAVE BRIGGS: Gotta feed the dog. Thanks, buddy. Enjoy the weekend.

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