Tag Archives: Consumer spending

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which took a hit in March as the first effects of the sequester were felt, increased from 61.9 to 68.1 in April, the firm reported. Consumers were considerably more upbeat about the near future than they were in March. The Conference Board's Expectations Index improved to 73.3 in April, a jump from 63.7 the prior month. While more respondents also expressed confidence in their assessment of current conditions, monthly gains were only moderate.

Restrained by slow wage growth, personal income rose a disappointing $30.9 billion (0.2 percent) in March--half of what economists expected--as spending rose $21.0 billion or 0.2 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Monday. Economists had expected income to improve 0.4 percent in February and spending to increase 0.1 percent. Personal income had improved $15.2 billion in February, largely on the strength of an $80 billion increase in dividend payments. Dividend payments in March increased by $4.5 billion over February.

The Survey of Consumers Index of Consumer Sentiment dropped a bit from March to April but stayed level on a yearly basis, according to the latest release. The overall index declined to 76.4 from 78.6 in March, a drop of 2.8 percent. April 2012's index also read 76.4. According to Survey of Consumers, most of April's loss was in how consumers viewed future economic prospects: "In particular, consumers were less optimistic about the ability of the economy to continue to expand without a renewed downturn sometime in the next five years."

Following a "robust" holiday shopping season, consumer spending slowed to a more cautious pace in this year's first quarter, according to new data from the Chase Freedom Lifestyle Index. The index shows overall spending was down 9 percent from the last quarter of 2012, falling to a level about even with last year's first quarter. As winter gave way to spring, March saw consumers shift their spending focus to home improvement projects (up 25 percent from February) and clothing/apparel (up 28 percent).

Despite threats from the federal budget sequester, the nation's economy expanded "at a moderate pace" from late February to early April, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday in its periodic Beige Book. Reports on mortgage lending, the Beige Book said, "were mostly favorable" with stronger refinancing activity in New York and Atlanta. The Cleveland and Kansas City districts, according to the report, "noted a shift from mortgage refinancing to new purchases," and New York, Richmond, Dallas, and San Francisco "reported an uptick in residential mortgage loans."

Deloitte's Consumer Spending Index, which tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future spending, remained largely on a steady course in March as the economy stabilized. The company reported an index reading of 4.12 for March, down a bit from 4.37 the previous month. While March's reading was a bit of a dip, Deloitte notes the index has remained fairly steady over the past five months, remaining above the 4.0 mark while wages, home prices, and unemployment claims find steadier ground.

In the budget he unveiled this week, President Obama, as he has in so many policy initiatives, attempted to reshape the political lexicon.

Sometimes a story just fits--and sometimes it doesn't. Given that maxim, the explanation from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) for the drop in the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) for February has to be viewed with a jaundiced eye. According to the NAR, the PHSI dropped because of the low inventory of homes for sale. Of course, that wasn't offered as an explanation one month earlier, when the inventory of homes for sale dropped, and the PHSI increased.

After showing disappointing preliminary numbers, the final Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Survey Index of Consumer Sentiment jumped to end March, according to the Surveys of Consumers group. The monthly index reached 78.6, coming in above February's reading of 77.6 and March 2012's reading of 76.2. Preliminary figures released mid-March showed an index reading of 71.8, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg came out with a median forecast of 72.6 for the month.

Personal income rose a solid $143.2 billion or 1.1% in February, dwarfing expectations and spending jumped $77.2 billion or 0.7%, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, reported Friday. The data suggest the personal spending component of Gross Domestic Product remained strong in the first quarter.