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Despite falling last year, inflation has proved persistent in 2024, and some consumers are having to carefully choose where to put their dollars.

Those decisions are beginning to show up as pressure in some companies' financial results for the year’s first quarter, while it has been a boon to others.

One segment feeling a negative impact is restaurants and food delivery services, which are now trying to draw in customers with tighter budgets. At the same time, some consumer goods makers showed they were able to weather the inflation headwinds as people demonstrated that they are still buying their favorite brands. 

Famous for its affordability, McDonald’s (MCD) posted slowing comparable or same-store sales in the first quarter, showing that consumers may be starting to buckle under what company executives called a “pressured consumer spending environment.”

“I think consumers are obviously dealing with a lot in the current macro context. Obviously, they’re getting hit across their full basket of goods and services by all the inflationary impacts,” said McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden on the company’s earnings call.

While the fast-food chain still posted a 9% year-over-year increase in earnings per share, CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company was conscious of the pressure on its customers, and would be focusing more on advertising to promote its “value message.”

Same-store sales for Starbucks (SBUX) fell 4% in its first quarter, with the coffee chain saying loyal customers were still flocking to their locations, but higher prices made it harder to draw the occasional customer.

“You look at the underlying headwinds, particularly around the pressures that consumers face particularly with the occasional customer, what we're seeing is that's where the challenge is. It's a challenge with their traffic and it's a challenge with them coming into our stores,”  Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said on a company's earnings call.

High prices aren’t just keeping some customers from going out, they’re also impacting whether they order in. Food delivery service DoorDash (DASH) reported a bigger-than-anticipated loss in the first quarter as demand for restaurant delivery slowed. However, the delivery app was able to generate more sales in the quarter, in part by expanding its service to include must-haves through grocery and retail deliveries. 

While higher prices discouraged some consumers from eating out or ordering delivery from restaurants, it didn’t stop them from buying some of their favorite items at the store.

The Coca-Cola Company (KO) demonstrated this when it posted a revenue boost after increasing its prices, with the company also raising its revenue forecast this year due to “higher than expected inflationary pricing.”

“The U.S. consumer remains in good shape,” said Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey during the company’s earnings call.

Coca-Cola executives said they see signs consumers are changing their buying patterns due to higher prices, moving to more purchasing for in-home consumption of its beverages.

“There is some purchasing power compression in the lower income echelons. And I think it’s quite clear that there’s some behavioral shift there looking for value,” Quincey said. 

Consumers also had a hard time turning away from chocolate, despite a volatile cocoa market that led Hershey (HSY) to push prices up by more than 5% in the first quarter from a year ago to pull in almost 9% more revenue. Hershey CEO Michele Buck said the chocolate maker was off to a “strong start” this year as the company maintained its projection that it would grow sales by 2% to 3% this year. 

Another company that continued to make sales despite higher prices was Procter & Gamble (PG), as the maker of Tide, Dawn, and Pampers reported that it raised its prices even more than analysts expected, and still saw noteworthy sales growth.

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Singer AdekunleGold has continued to trade words with music producer Samklef by telling him that he has no right to speak on the virtue of gratitude after her allegedly collected money from him to produce a song and never did.

He made the allegation against Samklef and the music producer claimed be the one behind Sims’s success and he expects that she shows him gratitude

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Corporate earnings and comments from Federal Reserve speakers highlight a relatively light week for economic data.

Palantir Technologies’ (PLTR) earnings report Monday is likely to highlight the company’s work on artificial intelligence (AI), while reports from Walt Disney (DIS) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will provide an update on the streaming marketplace. Apple (AAPL) will host a product event this week. 

Several Federal Reserve speakers are on the calendar, including those whose past remarks have unsettled markets. Investors also will receive the latest update on consumer sentiment. 

Market watchers will get financial updates from major streaming services this week, while automakers, technology firms and gig economy companies are also likely to attract investor attention. In addition this week, Apple will host its “Let Loose” product event on Tuesday. 

Walt Disney’s earnings report on Tuesday comes after it recently won a battle with activist investors seeking to take seats on the company board. On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery seeks to bounce back from its earnings miss last quarter as investors evaluate subscriber levels for its Max streaming service. 

Palantir Technologies' earnings report on Monday will show whether the data analytics company can continue the success of its AI platform, which helped push the firm’s earnings above expectations in the 2023 fourth quarter. 

The Wednesday earnings report from Anheuser-Busch InBev will show whether the alcohol distributor has bounced back from a consumer boycott of its Bud Light beer. 

Wednesday also will feature reports from several “gig economy” businesses. Ride-hailing service Uber reports earnings after it reversed losses from 2022 to produce a net income of nearly $2 billion.  Airbnb’s earnings come as the short-term rental provider faces pushback in places like New York City.

Investors will get updates from Japanese car makers, with Toyota Motor reporting on Wednesday and Honda Motor releasing its financials on Friday. Toyota’s report comes after it announced a new investment in an electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid vehicle plant, while Honda is exploring an EV partnership with its rival Nissan. 

After Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he still expected inflation to decline this year, other Fed officials will take the opportunity this week to express their views on the economy. Investors are closely monitoring remarks from Federal Reserve officials regarding their ideas on the path and timing of interest rate cuts. 

Starting Monday, investors will hear from Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin and New York Fed President John Williams, who recently presented an uncertain timeline for interest rate cuts. 

On Tuesday, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari will deliver remarks, coming after an interview last month that sparked a market sell-off when he speculated about whether interest rates could be cut at all this year amid persistent inflation. 

Other speakers will include Fed Gov. Lisa Cook and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee. His remarks will come after the Friday release of the Michigan Consumer Confidence survey, which includes data on inflation that is closely watched by Fed officials.

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