Adjusting for the impact of an early Easter this year, consumers’ retail spending through March remains slower than the strong November-December holiday period. The slowdown is in retail sales excluding autos, fuel, and restaurant. Taking a toll on sales are higher…
The economic headwinds appear to be gaining strength with price inflation edging higher through early 2018 as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The brunt of the headwinds likely will be felt by the (retail) goods sector of the economy, where…
Job gains are on a slowing trend through early 2018—except for a strong February—and becoming further concentrated in the West and Southeast. The slowing trend is the result of weakness in certain markets as much as the result of a tight…
Consumers’ spending confidence jumped in March—lifted mostly by Gen X consumers with a college degree, and strong plans to spend in homegoods categories. Whether the confidence pickup actually revives the recent spending trend (see more here) will depend, however, on the…
Retail sales through February show clearer signs of a letup from a strong holiday. Most notably, sales show a pronounced letup from the strong November start to the holiday. From year-to-year gains that peaked near 6% in November, growth has slowed…
Overall consumer confidence to spend continues to move sideways, but the homegoods category will be the exception benefiting from improved spending plans from Millennials to Boomers. That’s the takeaway from the latest spending confidence data through February. The data otherwise support…
The ecommerce impact on the strong holiday is clearer in the latest retail data: In-store holiday sales improved despite the strongest ecommerce gains in six years. The data also give a sign—albeit mixed—of a January letup from the holiday gains, which…