MORE SIGNS THAT THE ECONOMY IS IN TROUBLE

From the AP, 1/14/08:

Drug store chain Walgreen Co. reported early this month that shoppers are gravitating toward store label brands as they look for value. Grocery chain Supervalu Inc. reduced its full-year profit outlook last week, saying shoppers are focusing on its cheaper brands.

Even the top 1% are starting to cut back on spending:

Luxury Shoppers Shut Their Purses
Purveyors of luxury goods are finding that even their well-cushioned customers are feeling the economic pinch and putting their credit cards away

by Pallavi Gogoi
January 11, 2008, 12:01AM EST
Business Week

Luxury stores have finally caught the economy's cold.

For months, high-end retailers posted healthy sales increases, thumbing their noses at dismal reports of slumping home sales, risky mortgages, and rising energy prices. But now it looks as though even well-heeled consumers are pulling back. On Jan. 10, the upscale department store Nordstrom (JWN) said that December sales at stores open at least a year fell 4% from last year, compared with an 8.7% increase in November. Saks (SKS), New York's Fifth Avenue luxury mainstay, also reported that its same-store sales were up a mere 0.8%, compared with a 25.7% increase in the previous month. And blue-blood retailer Neiman Marcus eked out a tepid 2.9% sales increase, vs. 5.8% in November and 8.5% in October.