We're leading with the breakfast cereal indicator, showing worried consumers getting careful about spending on basics.

I'm David Brancaccio. General Mills has just told investors it expects sales to fall as much as 2% this year.

Campbell's and Kraft Heinz also expect business to slow. This is everyday stuff, but a strong

signal about the state of the economy, Marketplace's Henry Ep reports.

Inflation over the past couple years has made trips to the grocery store a lot harder for

many Americans, and a lot of folks expect prices will keep going up. That's influencing the

choices they make when they shop for food,

says Ed Johnson, who focuses on consumer industries at Deloitte.

The places where we're seeing that choice manifest is only buying essentials, right? So maybe

that's, think about categories in the grocery store that are maybe seen as simple indulgences

or as nice to have.

Snacks, soda. Some shoppers are skipping those, he says, or they're trading down from name brands to the generic versions.

But executive editor of Supermarket News, Chloe Riley, says those store brands aren't immune either because low-income consumers are getting pinched by rising prices for basics like

coffee and eggs. Consumers are cutting out many of even the cheaper items as well. And all these

consumer choices are trickling up to corporate offices, says Craig Rowley, who consults with retail

companies at Corn Ferry. He says his clients are starting to ask,

What are our expenses look like? If our sales are going to be a little bit slight,

what can we do to reduce our expenses? They could cancel planned investments,

leave open jobs unfilled, or even layoff workers. Rowley says his clients aren't making any of those moves yet, but they're exploring their options.

I'm Henry App for Marketplace. The people with an optimal readout on the economy left interest

rates unchanged yesterday. The Federal Reserve still expects to cut the cost of borrowing

maybe twice as the year goes on amid signs of weakness ahead, but the Fed waited this time

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