Target’sTGT

bullseye looks more like a miss these days. Despite beating Q4 expectations, its shares plummeted by more than 5%  early yesterday morning as the retail titan warned of softening sales and a “meaningful” drop in Q1 profits. As a bellwether for consumer spending, this stumble foretells broader economic tremors — with aftershocks inbound.

• Target reported a $2.41 EPS (vs. $2.26 expected) and $30.92B revenue (vs. $30.82B expected), but sales dropped 3% YoY — forecasting just 1% sales growth for the year ahead, well behind Wall Street’s 2.6% estimate.
• The gloomy outlook echoes concerns raised by WalmartWMT
  and e.l.f. BeautyELF
  about a slower start to 2025 — aligning with January’s sharp decline in consumer spending and February’s biggest consumer confidence drop since 2021.

It gets worse: As spending dampens, Trump’s new duties on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada — accounting for 42% of 2024’s total imports — spell trouble for retailers and consumers alike. With the tariffs commencing yesterday, all three countries have already retaliated, while Best BuyBBY

warns of “highly likely” price hikes, and Target foresees produce price jumps. Apparently, the only thing on target this quarter is economic uncertainty.