It can be difficult to know what to do any time the market is mostly going sideways like it is right now, but the retail space is even more confusing than usual at the moment.

Retail sector numbers are out this week, and they’re a bit… contradictory. Sales are overall up by .4% over the past month, which is positive, but it’s also only about half of what analysts expected. But if you leave out auto and gas sales, it’s exactly the reverse – sales growth is three times what analysts projected.

So there’s some indication that the American consumer, and the economy overall, is still chugging along here. But consumer sentiment, as measured by the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (MCSI) is looking pretty ugly right now, driven mostly by fears of an impending recession.

So consumers are worried about a recession… but they’re spending money anyway. So sales are growing… but not as fast as they could be. What gives?

And you can see that confusion manifesting in how retail stocks are performing right now. Some household names that reported decent earnings are taking a hit anyway. Others that you wouldn’t expect to perform well when people are worried about a recession are taking off. It’s wild out there, plain and simple.

That’s why I wanted to take the opportunity this week to do a deep dive into big retail names and break them down for you one by one.

I’ve got a review on seven of the largest retail companies in the world, including Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Target Corp (TGT), and others, and trust me – you’re going to be surprised at which of these are a great buy right now and which you want to avoid like the plague.

Check out the video for the full breakdown:

 

Even though a lot of these stocks are in the doghouse right now and you definitely shouldn’t buy them, that doesn’t mean you can’t make money off of them. One of my subscription services is specifically designed to target stocks impacted by major capital shifts and set ourselves up for potential profits no matter which way they’re headed. In fact, some of the worst-performing stocks you can think of could generate the largest potential gains.

— Shah Gilani

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Source: Total Wealth