Major American companies, including Home Depot, Lowe’s, Target, and Walmart, expressed continued skepticism about Donald Trump’s shaky economy, pointing to his reckless tariffs, rising inflation, and hollowed-out job market. Executives warned that consumer sentiment has continued to plummet to record lows throughout the third quarter of the year as everyday Americans grapple with skyrocketing prices and the highest unemployment rate in years. 

Here’s what business executives told their investors during their Q3 2025 earnings calls: 

Home Depot and Lowe’s cut their profit guidance in Q3, highlighting deep consumer uncertainty and a weak housing market.

On Tuesday, Home Depot said that it cut its full-year profit forecast and missed key earnings targets because of consumers’ reluctance to spend on home improvement projects amid tariff whiplash and unaffordable mortgage rates. 

Home Depot CEO Ted Decker: “We believe that consumer uncertainty and continued pressure in housing are disproportionately impacting home improvement demand. […] Again, the economic uncertainty continues largely now due to living costs. Affordability is a word that is being used a lot, layoffs, increased job concerns, etc. That is why we do not see an uptick in that underlying storm-adjusted demand in the business.”

Lowe’s Chief Executive Officer Marvin Ellison: “Affordability and uncertainty in the broader economy continue to weigh on consumer confidence, particularly when it comes to larger discretionary purchases, as borrowing costs have been elevated for longer than originally anticipated.”

Lowe’s Executive Vice President Brandon Sink: “We are seeing a cautious consumer amid ongoing uncertainty in the macro environment, and the timing of an inflection in the home improvement and housing markets remains unclear.”

Major U.S. companies say consumers are increasingly hunting for deals, but Trump’s tariffs are making it harder for companies to meet that demand and instead forcing them to raise prices.

Target is struggling to hold on to customers who can no longer afford everyday essentials due to stubbornly high inflation, and on Wednesday, Target warned that the slowdown is likely to continue through the critical holiday season, just days after announcing it would cut 1,800 corporate jobs.

Target Chief Commercial Officer Richard Gomez: “As we approach the holidays, we know consumers remain cautious. Sentiment is at a three-year low amid concerns about jobs, affordability, and tariffs.” 

Target CFO James Lee: “Against the backdrop of a very difficult environment, I am proud of the team’s hard work this year to navigate a very high level of complexity, including their work to mitigate the impact of tariffs and navigate challenging consumer conditions.”

Walmart’s CFO said the company was seeing “some moderation in spending” among low-income households, which reflected the growing “disparity in wage growth” between lower- and upper-income households. Walmart is absorbing some costs and passing on others, raising prices by 1% last quarter. 

Walmart CFO John David Rainey: “There are pockets of moderation when we look by income cohort, and I don’t want to sound alarmist in any way here because again, overall the business is very consistent and that’s our outlook into the fourth quarter. But when we look by low-income cohort versus middle versus higher income, we have seen some moderation in spending in the low-income cohort. And that’s consistent with things you’ve seen from a macro perspective in October wage growth. The disparity in wage growth between those cohorts was as large as it’s been in almost a decade. And so we’re seeing the same things that others are, and we’re keeping a watchful eye on it.”

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon: “Middle-income households have been steady, and while lower-income families have been under additional pressure of late, we’re encouraged by how our teams are meeting them with greater value across necessities and doing what we can to help them stretch their dollars further.”

Williams-Sonoma CFO Jeff Howie: “Our higher operating margin guide reflects both the strong results we have delivered year to date and the expectation that tariffs will have a greater impact on our margins in Q4. […] In fact, our incremental tariff rate has more than doubled from 14% earlier this year to 29% today, inclusive of all the tariffs I just mentioned.”