Neil Freiman

Kohl's CEO, Michael Bender, was the most explicit about the conversations going on in American homes right now.

He said right now our customer is sitting around their kitchen table trying to make life work.

It's the combination of how do I pay for gas, food, light bill, all the things that are necessities.

And with what's left over, which retailer is the one that's going to help me stretch my dollars as far as I possibly can.

For more people, it is Kohl's.

The company posted its best comparable sales performance in more than four years.

But all that spending has taken a bite out of savings.

In fresh data released yesterday, the U.S.

personal saving rate dropped to 2.6% in April, down from 3.2% in March, 4.3% in January, and 5.6% from a year ago.

So now we're at the lowest savings levels since mid-2022.

So Toby, it was a real shocker seeing these retailers report booming sales, but they definitely sounded a little anxious that the good times won't last.

And that was pretty stark in Costco's earnings, they also reported yesterday.

The CEO said they saw record-breaking volumes for gas in the fiscal third quarter.

For the final five weeks of the quarter were Costco's top five volume weeks ever.

So Costco is known for cheap things as well as cheap gas when you become a member and people were just...

flocking to Costco gas stations.

Costco also saw a 12% sales increase from the past year.

Another thing that's guaranteed his life is Costco beating revenue expectations.

So you're right, there is a debate about whether a low savings rate or a high savings rate is an indication of a healthy consumer because during the 2008 financial crisis, the savings rate was above 8% and now we're at 2.6%.

Right now, it seems like people are just paying a ton for gasoline.