It is September, which means holiday shopping season. From Marketplace, I'm Subrey Beneshore,

in for David Brancaccio. Students are barely back in their seats, school supplies in hand,

but the retailers who sold them those supplies have moved on. Their eyes are on the next big

shopping event, the holidays.

And so far, what they're seeing does not look great. The accounting and consulting firm Pricewaterhouse

Cooper says shoppers plan to spend about 5% less this year. Marketplaces, Kristen Schwab has more.

Holiday sales numbers are considered a barometer for how consumers feel. And right now,

stubborn inflation and tariff uncertainty are on people's minds. PWC's survey, citing a 5% drop in

shopping, would make for the biggest holiday spending fall since the pandemic in 2020. Spending

on gifts is the category expected to take the biggest hit, dropping 11%. Meanwhile,

companies' expectations for the year are mixed. Target and Best Buy have maintained their annual

forecasts. Walmart and Abercrombie and Fitch have raised theirs. Toymaker Mattel has cut its outlook.

Analysts say shoppers will be deliberate with

their dollars, deciding where to splurge and where to hold back. Of course, intentions and

actions are two different things. Consumer sentiment was down during its last reading in July,

while spending was up, and there's plenty of time for either of those indicators to shift.

For its holiday spending survey, PWC pulled 4,000 consumers between June and July.

The unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, Black Friday, is still about three months away.

I'm Kristen Schwab for Marketplace.

Dollar Tree reported financial results for the second quarter.

Net sales grew, and it said sales would keep growing in the third quarter, too. The shoppers

look for bargains, but it warned tariffs would be driving up some prices and profit forecast

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