What the Latest Fed Decision Means for Costco, Walmart, Target, and Home Depot
When interest rates go up, that tends to be bad news for stocks. But not all stocks are affected the same way by rising rates. At their most recent meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Sept. 16, the central bankers hiked the benchmark federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points. Inflation in September came in slightly hotter than expected, with a year-over-year CPI increase of 3.7%. That suggests that the Fed might hike rates again in 2026, as the FOMC will meet two more times this year, on Oct. 28 and Dec. 9. When the Fed hikes interest rates, its goal is often to slow inflation -- and tap the brakes on economic growth. This can have negative effects on job growth, borrowing costs, and consumer spending. Some retail stocks might suffer more from a consumer spending slowdown than others. A few important retail stocks to watch right now are Costco (NASDAQ: COST) , Home Depot (NYSE: HD) , Target (NYSE: TGT) , and Walmart (NASDAQ: WMT) . Here's how these four retail stocks have performed since the federal funds rate hike on Sept. 16: Continue reading