Important Takeaways:

• Another One Bites the Dust With Bidenomics: Family Dollar and Dollar Tree to Close 1,000 Stores
• As my colleague Bonchie pointed out earlier Wednesday, if Sleepy Joe and crew expected a bounce from the State of the Union yell fest, what they received was a thud. Panic Time for Democrats As Joe Biden Gets No Bump From Terrible State of the Union Speech
• Family Dollar, the struggling discount chain that caters to low-income customers predominantly in cities, will close about 1,000 stores as inflation takes a bite out of consumers’ wallets and low-cost-retailers’ profits.
• Family Dollar will close 600 locations in the first half of 2024 and 370 stores over the next several years as store leases expire.
• Dollar Tree, which owns Family Dollar, also said it will close 30 stores as leases expire
• Inflation gave Team Bidenomics a swift kick in the pants. It rose by 0.4% in February, the highest monthly increase since September, pushing the year-to-year rate to 3.2%, compared to 3.1% for the January year-to-year rate. Economists had expected a 3.1% year-to-year rate in February.
• The White House is pushing the story that “volatile” gasoline prices—and probably predatory price-gouging by gas station owners—are to blame, but the data say something different. The Core Consumer Price Index has increased steadily for seven months.
• A couple more increases like this over the next couple of months leading into the summer are probably going to put some doubt into whether or not the Fed will reduce interest rates in any way

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