Friday, November 1, 2019
U.S. Consumer Confidence
US Consumer Confidence Consumer confidence in America continues to fall short of expectations. It has fallen for the third straight month as the trade war continues between the U.S. and China. Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators of the Conference Board, claims that consumers feel good about present economic conditions but have "expressed some concerns about business conditions and job prospects" with expectations about the future. Though consumer confidence has lowered, especially in October, experts still believe that the upcoming holiday spending will not be curtailed. If this holds true, what kind of impacts could high consumer spending in the near months do for the economy?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
High consumer spending in the coming months is important to watch because it could set the US back on track. The key thing to watch is if it is sustained following the holiday season.
ReplyDeleteThis lowering of consumer confidence seems to me a manifestation of the "animal spirits", the economy as a whole has been doing well. How much longer it will last seems to be the question on everyone's mind. The increase in consumer spending will surely give the manufacturing sector a nice boost, but I wonder if any linkages in sectors will show a benefit outside the manufacturing industry.
ReplyDeleteThis will continue to drop as there continues to be discussions of a recession hanging over our heads. The problem is now that there is no incentives to cash out capital gains from stocks because rates are so low, this will lead to more people losing money and a larger stock market pullback when it happens. People will spend all the money they are making now until they are really given a reason not to.
ReplyDeleteIf consumer spending increased in the near future, it could alleviate some of the current economic fears and recoup lost economic growth, that the economy experienced recently. These possibilities are unlikely to occur though, because the looming recession and the continued trade war only intensify fears, and this is likely to continue the pattern of low consumer confidence.
ReplyDeleteIf consumer spending continues to follow the trend of increasing during the holiday season, this will reduce the effect of the current confidence of investors and consumers. It will most likely reduce the fears of a recession approaching in the future as well. If consumer spending increases, with a possible increase in investment as well, then it will give a boost to GDP as a whole. As a result, it may cause consumer confidence to boost which may turn the economy around in the eyes on economists.
ReplyDelete