Home Depot Says Consumers Are Pulling Back Amid Economic Uncertainty

Home Depot executives say consumers are feeling pressured by economic uncertainty and are spending less on major home renovation projects, leading the consumer spending bellwether to lower its forecast for a key sales metric deeper into negative territory. The world’s largest home-improvement retailer reported its second-quarter results on Aug. 13, notching sales of $43.18 billion, a 0.6 percent increase that bettered Wall Street bets for $42.57 billion and snapped a first-quarter sales slump of 2.3 percent. Key to the sales jump was the acquisition of contract supplier SRS Distribution, which added $1.3 billion to Home Depot’s sales in the second quarter. Prior to the second-quarter recovery, the company reported three consecutive quarters of falling sales....