Consumers

Retail sales suffered a setback to start 2018 per the latest data from the Census Bureau.  The headline tally declined 0.3 percent, but it gets worse.  December’s figures were downwardly revised to unchanged after an initial reading of 0.4 percent which should push the nation’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) count lower when its revision is released later this

Personal income and spending each improved to end 2017, but their rates of change were different.  Americans’ pay managed to grow just 0.3 percent while outlays increased 0.5 percent.  Additionally, there was a key revision to the prior period’s tally as outlays actually increased 0.8 percent (originally 0.6 percent), but November’s income tally remained as initially

Two popular measures of consumer attitudes were mixed in November 2017, but they both remain relatively elevated.  Consumer Confidence put out by the Conference Board hit a new 17-year high, reaching 129.5.  Consumer Sentiment from the University of Michigan declined to 98.5 from 100.7, the highest peak of the last decade.

Retail sales jumped in September 2017 according to the Census Bureau’s data.  After falling a revised 0.1 percent in August (originally -0.2 percent), the value of transactions climbed 1.6 percent as the third quarter came to a close.  Versus a year earlier, retail sales increased 4.4 percent.  However, it appears some of the data was influenced by difficult weather in the

Popular measures of consumer attitudes were positive in August 2017. Those polled by the Conference Board for the Consumer Confidence tally were much more enthusiastic than a month earlier as were the folks interviewed by the University of Michigan for Consumer Sentiment figures.

Consumer attitudes are mixed according to two popular surveys.  Per Consumer Confidence numbers from the Conference Board, Americans felt better in July 2017 than a month earlier as it enjoyed a 3.8 point jump from the downwardly revised tally of 117.3 (originally 118.9) to 121.1 in the period.  However, the Consumer Sentiment Index produced by the University of Michigan was decidedly

Retail Sales declined for a second consecutive month in June 2017 according to data from the Census Bureau. Following May’s upwardly revised decline of 0.1 percent (originally -0.3 percent), this indicator dropped 0.2 percent. Not only was the monthly change negative, but the year-over-year trend decelerated to just 2.8 percent from 4.1 percent in the prior period.