by Calculated Risk on 5/21/2007 10:43:00 AM

From MarketWatch: Housing slump batters Lowe's bottom line

Lowe's Cos. reported a 12% slump in first quarter profit Monday as the housing slump and tough comparisons sawed into the home improvement retailer's bottom line.
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"Multiple factors, including a difficult housing market in many areas, tough comparisons to hurricane rebuilding efforts, and significant lumber and plywood price deflation, continued to create a challenging sales environment in the first quarter," said Robert Niblock, Lowe's chief executive, in the earnings report. "Those anticipated factors were compounded by mixed weather during the quarter."

Actually, so far, there hasn't been much of a home improvement slump - see What Home Improvement Investment Slump?. With declining Mortgage Equity Withdrawal (MEW), it is very possible that home improvement spending might slump like in the early '80s and '90s.