The news: Zara parent Inditex has had a slower start to the year, a potentially worrying sign given the unpredictable outlook for consumer spending in the US, its second-largest market.

• Sales between February 1 and March 10 were up 4% YoY, missing estimates for 7% to 8% growth. That’s a considerable slowdown from the 11% growth the company reported the previous year.
• It’s also a deceleration from the 8.4% YoY increase in sales Inditex reported for Q4, which was largely in line with analyst expectations.

How we got here: The slowdown could be a weather-related blip; growth accelerated to 7% YoY for the final commercial week of the period, which the retailer attributed to consumers’ positive response to its spring/summer collections. The company is also coming off two years of extraordinary growth, making a deceleration all but inevitable.