Wall Street Journal (July 13)
“U.S. consumer inflation accelerated to 9.1% in June, a pace not seen in more than four decades, adding pressure on the Federal Reserve to act more aggressively to slow rapid price increases throughout the economy.” But there are also reasons to think inflation will be coming down as “investor expectations of slowing economic growth world-wide have led to a decline in commodity prices,” consumer spending is shifting, and excess inventory has retailers warning “of the need to discount goods, especially apparel and home goods.”
Tags: 9.1%, Aggressively, Commodity prices, Consumer spending, Discount, Economy, Excess inventory, Expectations, Fed, Growth, Inflation, Investor, June, Price increases, Retailers, Slowing, U.S.
Investment Week (June 29)
“Shop price inflation in the UK accelerated to a near 14-year high in June, powered by a sharp rise in food prices as retailers battle rising supply chain expenses and a decline in consumer spending. Shop prices were up by 3.1% in June, up from 2.8% in May.” This marked “the highest rate of inflation since September 2008” and it was largely “powered by 5.6% growth in food prices.”
Tags: Consumer spending, Expenses, Food prices, High, Inflation, Retailers, Sharp rise, Shop price, Supply chain, UK
Bloomberg (August 13)
“It seems like Japan’s big recovery is always a quarter away.” The economy may just barely manage growth in the second quarter, but the slow vaccination rollout and ongoing surges mean “the bounce in consumer spending that analysts had been forecasting will have to wait even longer.” Japan has earned “the dubious distinction of being the only G-7 economy to have its growth outlook for this year cut by the International Monetary Fund.”
Tags: Analysts, Bounce, Consumer spending, Economy, G-7, Growth, IMF, Japan, Outlook, Q2, Recovery, Surges, Vaccination
Bloomberg (April 16)
“China’s economy soared in the first quarter as consumer spending strengthened, joining production and investment in recovering from the Covid slump a year ago.” Year on year, GDP “climbed a record 18.3%,” but that is “skewed by comparisons from a year ago when the economy was in lockdown. A better reading of the economy’s momentum comes from quarter-on-quarter growth, which slowed to 0.6% from 2.6% in the previous three months.”
Tags: China, Consumer spending, Covid, Economy, GDP, Investment, Lockdown, Momentum, Production, Record, Recovering, Skewed, Slump, Strengthened
Bloomberg (January 18)
“China’s successful control of Covid-19 made it the only major economy to have grown last year, but a wide income inequality gap and still weak consumer spending reflects an unbalanced recovery.”
Tags: China, Consumer spending, Control, COVID-19, Gap, Income inequality, Major economy, Successful, Unbalanced recovery, Weak
Newsweek (September 4)
“September 15 will mark the tenth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and near meltdown of Wall Street, followed by the Great Recession.” With household debt at “an all-time high of $13.2 trillion,” we’re now close to a repeat. The direct cause will be income imbalance, not a banking crisis. “The U.S. economy crashes when it becomes too top heavy because the economy depends on consumer spending to keep it going…. For a time, the middle class and poor can keep the economy going nonetheless by borrowing. But, as in 1929 and 2008, debt bubbles eventually burst. We’re getting dangerously close.”
Tags: Anniversary, Banking, Collapse, Consumer spending, Crisis, Great Recession, Household debt, Income imbalance, Lehman Brothers, Meltdown, Top heavy, U.S., Wall Street
Bloomberg (April 17)
“China’s economic expansion held up amid robust consumer spending, underpinning global growth and giving authorities room to purge excessive borrowing, while the industrial sector showed signs of modest slowdown.”
Tags: China, Consumer spending, Economic expansion, Excessive borrowing, Global growth, Industrial, Slowdown
New York Times (March 22)
“The U.S. economic outlook again “has a dispiritingly familiar ring to it.” It looks unlikely that “this year’s early Easter” will “boost consumer spending after a brutal winter.” Despite optimism, Easter shopping and warmer weather have failed for several years proven “a sure catalyst for growth.” For that matter, it’s increasingly unclear where that catalyst will come from.
Tags: Boost, Catalyst, Consumer spending, Dispiriting, Easter, Economic outlook, Growth, U.S., Warmer weather
The Economist (August 9)
Abenomics may be working at the top, but it’s not trickling down to “folk who do not own bundles of shares or a flat in Tokyo’s trendy Daikanyama neighbourhood…. The mantra of Mr Abe and his advisers has been that a virtuous circle would come about whereby wages would rise and lift consumer spending, which in turn would boost investment by companies. Bingo: Japan would emerge from deflation. That is not happening and it is a conundrum.”
Tags: Abe, Abenomics, Advisers, Consumer spending, Daikanyama, Deflation, Investment, Japan, Shares, Tokyo, Trickle down, Wages
New York Times (November 14, 2013)
“After a surprising spurt of strong growth in the first half of the year, the Japanese economy seems to be running out of steam as exports and consumer spending show signs of weakening.” The annualized growth rate was dramatically halved, from 3.8% in the second quarter to 1.9% in the third quarter. However, the consensus suggest the rate will increase in coming quarters ahead of the consumption tax hike in April 2014.
Tags: Consumer spending, Consumption tax, Economy, Exports, Growth, Japan, Weakening
