A new Gallup poll shows that lower- and middle-income Americans — those making less than $90,000 a year — have tightened their purse strings yet again, facing high rates of unemployment and stagnant wages. All in all, lower- and middle-income Americans cut daily spending last month $6 from August More…
A bit of bad economic news: This morning, the Conference Board announced that consumer confidence, a key indicator of the consumer spending that drives about 60 percent of the economy, is declining again.
Data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the Commerce Department this morning shows that Americans earned a bit more, spent a bit less and saved more in June — all in line with economists’ expectations. Consumer spending drives about 60 percent of the economy, therefore, economists do More…
This morning, the Commerce Department said that the U.S. economy expanded at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter — about what economists expected. That rate is down from a 3.7 percent annual rate in the first quarter
Nonresidential fixed investment drove growth, increasing at a 17 More…
America’s consumers — aware of the bad economic stats and suffering from high rates of unemployment — are not feeling confident. From the Conference Board’s report on its closely watched consumer confidence index:
[The index], which had been on the rise for three consecutive months, declined sharply in June.
A tiny shot of good news amid otherwise dismal recent numbers: Consumers opened their wallets a bit more in May, spending 0.2 percent more than in April. Incomes rose 0.4 percent, and the savings rate increased as well, to the highest level since September. Economists expected consumer spending More…
Today, Gallup released a weekly survey of consumer spending — a good metric to keep an eye on, as it accounts for around 60 percent of the U.S. economy. Consumer spending had made gains last month, as high-income Americans returned to malls and restaurants. But more recent More…
Today, a poll from Gallup shows where the uptick in consumer spending is coming from: the wealthy, and the wealthy only. Americans earning more than $90,000 a year spent an average of $145 a day in May, a third more than in April and the largest amount since November More…
As I wrote earlier today, it is difficult to see the May jobs numbers as anything but a worrying disappointment. The stall-out in job growth might be temporary — but it is a stall-out. Private employers are not generating enough jobs to put a dent into the headline unemployment More…
Robert Reich has a good column on”why deficit hawks are killing the recovery.”
Consumer spending is 70 percent of the American economy, so if consumers can’t or won’t spend we’re back in the soup. Yet the government just reported that consumer spending stalled in April – the first month
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