Consumers Say They're Fearful but Spend Anyway
Here's the puzzle: Consumer confidence, as reported by the Conference Board earlier this week, weakened, yet consumer spending patterns are not showing a fearful consumer. For example, chain-store sales reported this week were relatively rather strong, and the details of the spending patterns in the Personal Income and Outlays Report, reported Thursday, show that consumers are spending quite freely on discretionary items.
And consumers increased their spending more than their incomes grew, defying some predictions for the savings rate to increase, as it instead fell, an indication of optimism. What consumers are doing suggests more optimism than what they are telling pollsters....529 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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