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U.S. consumers cut back sharply on spending last month, the most since February 2021, even as inflation declined, though stiff tariffs threatened by the White House could disrupt that progress. Americans cut their spending by 0.2% in January from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Friday, likely in part because of unseasonably cold weather. Yet the retreat may be hinting at more caution by consumers amid rising economic uncertainty. Inflation declined to 2.5% in January compared with a year earlier, down from 2.6% in December, the government said. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices dropped to...

Inflation in the Federal Reserve’s preferred price gauge eased in January after making steady increases throughout the fall. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased by 0.3 percent in January, easing to a 2.5-percent annual increase from 2.6 percent in December. The moves were in line with economists’ expectations. “This is about the only inflation indicator this month where the Fed can find some refuge,” Olu Sonola, economist with Fitch Ratings, wrote in an analysis. Concerns about resurgent inflation have been mounting after prices in both the PCE and the broader consumer price index (CPI) increased between September and...

Retail expert Gerald Storch says the 2024 election will weigh on an already weak holiday shopping season.. Former Target Vice Chairman Gerald Storch painted a sobering picture of consumer sentiment while speaking to FOX Business on Thursday, anticipating a subdued holiday shopping season weighed down by economic and political uncertainties. "It's very clear that consumers are running out of money. They're increasingly stressed by inflation and the exhaustion of their pandemic-era savings. When you take a look over the last several years, what you see month after month, everyone talks about, the consumer's still spending. They might be, but they're...

Summary > Consumer spending increases 0.8% in October > Personal income rises 0.7%; saving rate falls to 2.3% > Core PCE price index gains 0.2%; up 5.0% year-on-year > Weekly jobless claims fall 16,000 to 225,000 U.S. consumer spending increased solidly in October, while inflation moderated, giving the economy a powerful boost at the start of the fourth quarter as it faces rising headwinds from the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policy tightening. The labor market, the economy's other pillar of support, continues to show resilience. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits declined last week, almost unwinding...

Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its advance estimate of U.S. GDP for the first quarter of 2020. BEA estimates that real GDP contracted 4.8 percent at an annual rate in the first quarter of 2020, the first decline in six years. In comparison, real GDP expanded 2.5 percent annually over the first three years of the Trump Administration.This release confirms that COVID-19’s unprecedented adverse shock to the economy brought an end to the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. Consumer spending declined sharply, contributing -5.3 percentage points to the first quarter’s contraction. This rapid shift in...

U.S. consumer spending increased by the most in more than 9-1/2 years in March as households stepped up purchases of motor vehicles, but price pressures remained muted, with a key inflation measure posting its smallest annual gain in 14 months. The surge in consumer spending reported by the Commerce Department on Monday sets a stronger base for growth in consumption heading into the second quarter after it slowed sharply in the first three months of the year. It further allayed concerns about the economy’s health, which had been brought to the fore by a temporary inversion of the U.S. Treasury...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending increased by the most in more than 9-1/2 years in March, but price pressures remained muted, with a key inflation measure posting its smallest annual gain in 14 months. The surge in consumer spending reported by the Commerce Department on Monday sets a stronger base for growth in consumption heading into the second quarter after it slowed sharply in the first three months of the year. Tame inflation, however, supports the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to suspend further interest rate increases this year. Fed officials are scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to...

Consumer spending – not just retail but also healthcare, housing, tuition, and so on – accounts for 69% of the US economy. Decent economic growth without growth in consumer spending is practically impossible. That’s why everyone is watching consumers. And everyone is praying that they’ll spend. They’ll have to spend above the rate of inflation for “real” growth (adjusted for inflation) to happen. But that might not be happening over the next 12 months, according to the selfsame consumers. This isn’t from a wayward blogger spreading some kind of homemade doom-and-gloom gospel, but the New York Fed. It just released...

The math is pretty simple: A lack of purchasing power for consumers has led to a lack of pricing power for companies. When it comes to the U.S. economy big-picture outlook, the ramifications are more complicated, and not particularly pleasant. Wednesday's producer price index reading, showing a monthly decline of 0.5 percent, demonstrates a larger problem: At a time when policymakers are hoping to generate the kind of inflation that would indicate strong growth, the reality is that deflation is looming as the larger threat. Declining prices often would be treated as a net positive by consumers, but income weakness...

Overall sales growth below forecasts and sales excluding cars and petrol flat When the going gets tough, investors have grown used to betting on the tough going shopping. Every wobble of the past few years saw the consumer ignoring currency collapses, geopolitics and even government brushes with bankruptcy, and instead heading for the mall. The same has been true this year. The best-performing stocks in the US, UK and eurozone are in the defensive consumer staples and the racier consumer discretionary sectors. Almost no other sectors managed to make money, at least in dollar terms. Even in emerging markets, over...

Dear American Consumer, This is The Wall Street Journal. We’re writing to ask if something is bothering you. The sun shined in April and you didn’t spend much money. The Commerce Department here in Washington says your spending didn’t increase at all adjusted for inflation last month compared to March. You appear to have mostly stayed home and watched television in December, January and February as well. We thought you would be out of your winter doldrums by now, but we don’t see much evidence that this is the case. You have been saving more too. You socked away 5.6%...

The Japanese economy shrank at an annual pace of 6.8 percent in the second quarter after spending got slammed by a sales tax hike that kicked in from April, government figures showed Wednesday. Japan’s gross domestic product, or the total output of goods and services, also contracted 1.7 percent during the April-June period from the previous quarter. The decline in GDP was the worst since the March 2011 tsunami and quake disaster in northeastern Japan. In the first quarter of 2011, Japan’s economy shrank at an annual rate of 6.9 percent. The weak figures were expected as consumers and businesses...

Central bankers think they can keep their economy going by artificial stimulus until they hit escape velocity and grow at normal rates again — but they’re wrong. Here at Dent Research we hold a different view to what drives the economy. And central bankers are in for three big surprises ahead. Their economies are NOT going to grow the way they’re hoping, at least not until the early 2020s, thanks to declining demographic cycles and unprecedented debt ratios. But the surprises I’m talking about are going to come out of left field and slam unexpectedly and so fast into these...

While the mainstream economists were quick to believe that the U.S. economy is growing as the key stock indices suggest, I stood by my opinion that it isn’t. After the first estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for the U.S. economy came out, a wave of optimism struck and stock markets rallied. It seemed as if everything was headed in the right direction. Sadly, they were wrong. In its third and final revision of GDP, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that the U.S. economy grew at just 1.8% in the first quarter of 2013 from the fourth quarter...

JPMORGAN: The 'Slowdown In Consumer Spending Has Arrived' Matthew BoeslerMarch 3, 2013TheRealMichaelMoore / Flickr Last week's release of personal spending data revealed that spending rose 0.2 percent in February, at the same pace as in January. When adjusted for inflation, though, the data are less encouraging. In a note to clients, JPMorgan economist Robert Mellman declares that the "consumer spending slowdown is here," saying consumers are beginning to feel the effects of the payroll tax cut expiry and rising gas prices. Mellman writes: Slowdown in consumer spending has arrived: The first-round effects of the tax increases should mainly affect consumer...

The holiday shopping season got off to a strong start on Black Friday, with retail sales up 7 percent over last year, according to the most recent survey. Now stores just have to keep buyers coming back without the promise of door-buster savings. Buyers spent $11.4 billion at retail stores and malls, up nearly $1 billion from last year, according to a Saturday report from ShopperTrak. It was the largest amount ever spent on the day that marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season, and the biggest year-over-year increase since 2007. Chicago-based ShopperTrak gathers data from 25,000 outlets across...

The holiday shopping season starts in earnest on Thursday, with retailers anxious to see if U.S. consumers are willing to spend despite an endless stream of scary headlines about the fragile economy and their own precarious finances. However, in the eyes of retailers, the shopping period has been churning along for some time as retailers like Walmart Stores [WMT 56.64 -0.21 (-0.37%) ] and Toys R Us started early by offering layaway programs, and others offering major deals to lure shoppers. These incentives have increased the stakes for retailers, and when Americans are done with their turkey dinners on Thursday,...

Aug 12 (Reuters) - Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan met privately this week with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo amid the campaign to calm investors and employees about the bank's share price fall, the Wall Street Journal reported. The separate meetings took place on Wednesday in Washington, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the situation. The intent of the meetings with the two top federal officials was for Moynihan to discuss issues related to housing, consumer spending and the U.S. economy, two people familiar with the meetings told the Journal.

Consumer spending was flat in May, breaking a string of 10 straight months of gains, as households struggled with rising prices and automakers failed to deliver the models Americans wanted. When adjusted for inflation, spending slipped 0.1 percent, the Commerce Department said on Monday, falling for a second straight month. The report, which showed underlying inflation quickening, suggested that consumer spending would offer little support to the economy in the second quarter. In the first three months of the year, it advanced at a modest 2.2 percent annual rate. Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans spent at the weakest pace in 20 months, a sign that gas prices are taking a toll on the economy. Consumer spending was unchanged in May, the Commerce Department said Monday. That was the worst result since September 2009. And when adjusted for inflation, spending actually dropped 0.1 percent. April's consumer spending figures were revised to show a similar decline when adjusting for inflation. That marked the first declines in inflation-adjusted spending since January 2010. Incomes rose 0.3 percent for the second straight month. But adjusted for inflation, after-tax incomes increased only 0.1 percent in May,...