US consumers have been pretty robustly spending this year despite higher interest rates, yet they don’t seem to be shopping at discounters, which seems odd.

Dollar General (DG:NYSE), whose core customer base is lower-income, cut its outlook on 1 June after admitting the economy was ‘more challenging than we had previously anticipated’ and was having ‘a significant impact on customers’ spending levels and behaviours’.

Dollar General is the equivalent of the UK’s Poundland, selling lots of everyday items for a dollar, so if shoppers aren’t switching in its favour after months of persistent inflation you might wonder why. Investors certainly are, sending the shares plunging 22% to make it the second worst S&P 500 performer over the week ended 2 June.

Nearly a third of US adults reported they were either ‘just getting by’ or ‘finding it difficult to get by’, according to a survey taken in late 2022 and recently released by the Federal Reserve.

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