Fears of a Doomed Consumer Economy Are Sending These 2 Stocks Lower

Stock markets looked poised to ease lower on Friday morning, as a combination of earnings news and economic data made some investors question their bullishness from November. Strong jobs data and a falling unemployment rate could lead the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer, and that's directly contrary to the thesis on which many market participants have based their recent bullishness. Stock index futures were down as much as half a percent in premarket trading.

Retail stocks also added to anxiety levels. Both Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) and RH (NYSE: RH) saw their shares decline early Friday as shareholders parsed their respective quarterly financial results. Are they signaling an inevitable recession because of consumer weakness? Here's what the two companies had to say about it.

Shares of Lululemon Athletica were down 3% in premarket trading Friday morning. That was less sharp of a decline than the athletic apparel retailer's stock suffered in the immediate aftermath of its release of quarterly financial data late Thursday afternoon, but it still reflected wariness among those watching the upper end of the retail industry.

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Source Fool.com