As many of America’s best-known retailers reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings this week, buoyed by shoppers who continued to spend through stubbornly high inflation, they all seemed to arrive at the same conclusion: Conditions are about to get much, much worse.Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the U.S. economy, is a closely watched measure, and the performance of retailers is critical to that equation. This week, retail executives presented investors and analysts with downbeat outlooks for the first quarter and the year ahead, forecasting that sales growth, if any, will be much smaller than in years past.When describing their forecasts, several retail executives said on calls with analysts that they expec …
