Several of my recent posts focused on the mystery of why Americans continue to spend like crazy when surveys indicate that consumer sentiment is terrible. Unfortunately, I did not have a persuasive answer. To add to the conundrum, the University of Michigan Sentiment...
Economists focus intensely on trends in consumer spending because it accounts for roughly 70% of the overall economy. Currently, the outlook is quite murky with a variety of crosscurrents. My April 14th blog, What am I Missing?, discussed the fact that consumer spending...
As shown below, the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment hit an all-time low in April falling 10.7% from the March figure. The Index is 9% below the year ago reading. While the most recent decline was certainly impacted by the war...
A great deal has been written about the K economy in which those with assets such as homes and equities are faring well whereas families dependent on current wages are struggling. As detailed in my last blog, the rate of inflation has moderated...
The annual rate of inflation has declined from its peak of 9% in mid-2022 to 2.5% over the past twelve months. Even better, prices only increased by 0.3% over the past six months! Yet, many consumers remain quite grumpy. While consumer sentiment ticked...
Just three weeks ago, I posted a blog titled A Cloudy Crystal Ball that raised a caution flag based on four consecutive months of declining consumer confidence. Well, the newest report, which was released on April 11th, was 12% lower than the February...
