WASHINGTON—U.S. consumer spending barely rose in November, while annual inflation increased at its slowest pace in 13 months, but demand is probably not cooling fast enough to discourage the Federal Reserve from driving interest rates to higher levels next year. Slowing economic activity amid rising borrowing costs was also flagged by other data from the […]
The funding stream for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), created by Congress and approved by then-President Barack Obama in 2008, is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Oct. 19. The bureau, which has a mission to implement and enforce federal consumer finance law, was given the power to oversee 18 federal laws, ranging from […]
With rampant price inflation eating away at household budgets, U.S. consumers are saving less, using debt to keep their heads above water, and losing confidence in the economy. In April, the household savings rate tumbled to 4.4 percent, down from 6.2 percent in March, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). This is the […]
The final May edition of the University of Michigan’s Sentiment Survey, which was released on May 27, delivered even worse results than the preliminary May data with a further drop in consumer sentiment. The index fell from 65.2 in April to 59.1 in the initial May report to 58.4 in the final—the lowest level since August […]
During Tesla’s first-quarter 2022 earnings call on Wednesday, Billionaire Elon Musk noted that “the official numbers actually understate the true magnitude of inflation,” citing some suppliers raising costs by as much as 30 percent for parts. In December, the billionaire founder of Pershing Square Capital, Bill Ackman posted in a tweet that official statistics understated raging inflation […]
The cost of living in the United Kingdom rose more than expected in December, driven by the surging price of everything from food, drink, furniture, and household goods to restaurants and hotels, official data showed on Wednesday. Britain’s consumer price index (CPI) rose to 5.4 percent in the final month of the year, its highest in […]
Inflation accelerated sharply and well-above forecasts in October, with consumer prices rising at their fastest over-the-year pace in more than three decades as persistent supply chain bottlenecks continue to push prices skyward. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Nov. 10 that the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of inflation from the […]
The U.S. economy expanded at an annualized pace of 2.0 percent in the third quarter, a figure that is well below forecasts, driven down by a slowdown in consumer spending and a resurgence in COVID-19 cases that led to renewed restrictions and delays of reopening of businesses. Data released on Oct. 28 by the Commerce […]
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services rose to a record high in August, largely on the back of a rise in imports as businesses continued to build up inventories in response to strong consumer demand. The Commerce Department said in an Oct. 5 statement (pdf) that the trade deficit—the difference between exports and […]
