The first month of 2023 (and the last month of the retail industry’s Q4 2022) saw America’s largest party supply store file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move that the StarMine credit models had predicted about a year ago. The rise in inflation has caused consumers to hold back on discretionary spending. The latest Refinitiv consumer confidence reading also indicates that consumers are concerned about their purchasing power, job security and future expectations. All of this is affecting consumers’ willingness to open up their wallets and hurting retail sales. According to the StarMine Combined Credit Risk (CCR) model, the most