The consumer: still shopping through the grumbling
Apparently, Americans saw the gloomy headlines, shrugged, and kept swiping the card. Consumer spending is still rising even as people complain about sticky inflation and the economy’s general vibes are somewhere between “meh” and “please don’t ask.”
What’s actually going on?
The headline here is simple: spending is being propped up by higher prices. In other words, people may not be buying wildly more stuff — they’re often just paying more for the same stuff. That’s good news if you’re a retailer with pricing power, but less thrilling if you were hoping for a clean read on real demand.
Why investors should care
When consumers keep spending despite bad moods, it usually means:
- the economy has more resilience than the sentiment surveys suggest
- companies with pricing power can keep revenues afloat
- inflation may be doing the dirty work behind the scenes
Big picture: the U.S. consumer is still standing, but this isn’t exactly a victory lap. It’s more like jogging uphill while muttering about the hill.