By Chip Hanlon | December 01, 2008 | 3:37 AM | 10 Comments
Yeeee, not good.
After a few days away, I made it over to the mall with the wife and kids on Sunday afternoon--not just any mall, but South Coast Plaza, reportedly the highest-grossing mall per square foot in the U.S.-- and wow, was the place empty. It felt like a normal weekend day, not the post-Thanksgiving weekend, which I had been dreading getting mixed up in. Even the Aaple store was quiet, as evidenced by the numerous salespeople in bright blue t-shirts standing around waiting to attack the next person in the door-- talk about being grossly overstaffed.
Sorry to say it, but my little anecdotal impression is that this holiday retail season is going to be every bit as gruesome as everyone fears, maybe worse. They say the consumer is weak; to me, he appeared non-existent. Ugly.
Amex Misses Vendor Payment
I have it first-hand that American Express (NYSE: AXP) has missed a payment to one of its major services vendors (can't say which one, at my source's request). This isn't a debt payment issue, just a huge company putting it to another big company in the midst of tough times. The message from Amex: give us a break on pricing if you want to get paid. This already low-margin provider will likely knuckle under--what else can you do?
It's just business, but rough business from Amex, which has reportedly already been aggressively pulling in its customer credit lines in recent months. Another 'Wow.'
Sorry to sound so grim, but after the biggest up-week on the Dow in 75 years, it might be worth keeping in mind that one consumer lending giant isn't acting as though it sees any sort of recovery taking shape.
Remember the old adage, "bear market rallies are more spectacular than bull market rallies."
**EDITOR's note: This week's episode of Chip's podcast, featuring an interview with John Zigler, is now up. Click here to check it out. --EEJS
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