consumer spending

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Poll: 72% of World Cutting Spending

Economic malaise spreads to emerging markets, hits hard

(Newser) - Nearly three-quarters of households worldwide are cutting spending, with emerging markets particularly fretful about global economic woes, a 22-country survey found. Those countries are facing “precipitous decline," putting “in check any notion of 'decoupling’”—the idea that emerging markets are working independently of those of...

Market Opens Down on Grim Spending Data

 Market Opens Down 
 on Grim Spending Data 

MARKEts
Nov 26, 2008 8:58 AM CST

Market Opens Down on Grim Spending Data

Dow down triple digits, the good times are over

(Newser) - Wall Street’s three-day revival screeched to a halt this morning, as the Dow opened down 136 points following a grim consumer spending report. Personal consumption fell 1% in October, the fastest consumers have slammed the brakes on spending in 7 years, the Wall Street Journal reports. Orders for durable...

Thrift Helped Get Us Into This Mess
 Thrift Helped 
 Get Us Into 
 This Mess 
OPINION
Nov 25, 2008 10:09 AM CST

Thrift Helped Get Us Into This Mess

"Wealth effect" is playing out in reverse

(Newser) - Three factors are playing into the financial crisis, and it's time to recognize the culprit that accompanies the burst housing bubble and banking meltdown, Robert J. Samuelson writes in the Washington Post. The wealth effect—"the tendency of people to adjust their spending as their wealth changes"—...

Cash Makes a Comeback
 Cash Makes a Comeback 
Nov 24, 2008 2:15 AM CST

Cash Makes a Comeback

But cash isn't king for retailers, who'll likely see bigger drop in sales

(Newser) - Americans are reverting to cash for purchases in increasing numbers, according to top retailers Wal-Mart, Target and JC Penney. The shift away from credit is expected to further reduce spending by consumers—who will be limited to cash-on-hand purchases—not just during the holiday season, but during what could be...

Consumers Not Buying... Um, Anything
 Consumers 
 Not Buying... 
 Um, Anything 
ANALYSIS
Nov 12, 2008 10:16 AM CST

Consumers Not Buying... Um, Anything

Worried Americans scaling back spending, saving more—bad news for retailers

(Newser) - The US consumer has “gone from being the world economy’s greatest strength to its Achilles’ heel,” writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. Just as Wall Street’s turmoil begins to calm, consumer spending—an economic mainstay—has gone into hiding, helping to accelerate General Motors’...

Struggling AmEx Asks Feds for $3.5B Infusion

Credit card company is reeling as consumers cut back spending

(Newser) - Falling consumer spending and rising defaults have prompted American Express—which has seen its stock plunge 57% this year—to ask for $3.5 billion from the government’s $700 billion bailout fund, reports the Wall Street Journal. The company Monday received Federal Reserve approval to become a bank holding...

For Wealthy, It's Cool to Be Cheap

Twin concerns drive new consumer psyche

(Newser) - Affluent Americans are folding up the Gucci sunglasses and trying green living's thriftier practices on for size, a response to environmental and economic concerns that's sure to dampen spending for the duration of the recession, the Wall Street Journal reports. "People aren't shopping to feel better," said one...

Dow Rally Ends Dreadful Month
 Dow Rally Ends Dreadful Month 
MARKETS
Oct 31, 2008 3:39 PM CDT

Dow Rally Ends Dreadful Month

(Newser) - Stocks rallied today despite a slew of poor economic reports as investors instead focused on falling rates in the credit markets, MarketWatch reports. Though the Dow was up 11.3% for the week, October ended as the worst month since 1987. The Dow rose 144.32 to close at 9,...

'Consumers Have Thrown In the Towel': Report

Weary from a long fight, consumers are retrenching, cutting purchases across the board

(Newser) - The punches are coming from all directions and consumers, beaten down and out of breath, are clearly ceding the fight through decreased spending, Bloomberg reports. The scorecard released today says it all: consumer purchases were down 0.3% in September, the biggest drop in 4 years, capping the weakest quarter...

Spooked Stocks Dip Slightly
 Spooked Stocks Dip Slightly   
MARKET opener
Oct 31, 2008 8:51 AM CDT

Spooked Stocks Dip Slightly

Scary Halloween ahead for Wall Street?

(Newser) - Stocks took a small slide this morning, as spooked investors bid farewell to one of the worst months in market history. The Dow fell 21 points, while the S&P and Nasdaq were off 0.3% and 0.9% respectively, the Wall Street Journal reports. Among the scary news was...

Spending Dive Sends GDP Down

Economists fear prolonged recession inevitable as numbers erode

(Newser) - The US economy shrank less than expected in the third quarter but still suffered the biggest contraction since the 2001 recession, reports Bloomberg. The gross domestic product fell 0.3%, led by the first fall off of consumer spending in two decades. The figure, out from the Commerce Department this...

Chill Out: It's a Recession, Not the Apocalypse
Chill Out: It's a Recession, Not the Apocalypse
OPINION
Oct 28, 2008 12:33 PM CDT

Chill Out: It's a Recession, Not the Apocalypse

London's mayor has some advice for the queen: Buy a dress

(Newser) - If you’re fretting, panicking, or just plain moping about the economy, Boris Johnson has some advice: Wake up and go shopping. “This isn’t some disaster movie about a virus from Mars. It’s a recession,” the mayor of London writes in the Daily Telegraph. “It...

No More Bling? Even the Jet Set Feels the Pinch

Luxury execs are sitting tight for the most part, while jet set wonders what's appropriate

(Newser) - Not even the super-rich are immune to the present crisis, prompting Christina Binkley to wonder in the Wall Street Journal: "Is this the end of bling?" In a word, maybe. The world, of course, will always have rich people, but they may not want to flaunt it as much...

Wary Consumers Spell Trouble for Retailers

71% miss projections, worst showing since September of 2000

(Newser) - With the holiday season looming, retailers' only hope may be a genuine Christmas miracle. In reports on last month's business, 71% of retailers missed sales and profits estimates, making it the worst September since data collection began in 2000, MarketWatch reports. Experts widely attributed the dismal numbers to the struggling...

American Consumers Stop Spending: 'They All Feel Poor'

Unending bad news has sent consumer confidence reeling

(Newser) - Consumers, hit by a tsunami of economic bad news, have dramatically cut back spending in recent weeks, on everything from clothes to cars to airline travel to dining out, reports the New York Times. The slowdown all but guarantees a drop in consumer spending for the third quarter, the first...

Consumers Squeezed, Spending Stalls
Consumers Squeezed, Spending Stalls
Oct 3, 2008 10:45 AM CDT

Consumers Squeezed, Spending Stalls

As prices rise, wages fall and unemployment jumps, spending growth has stalled

(Newser) - The current economic crisis is shaping up to be different than others Americans have weathered in the past 20 years in an important respect, the Washington Post reports: consumer spending, which the nation could always count on to propel the economy through, has stalled. Real spending, the catalyst behind 70%...

Tight Budgets Pinch Health Care Spending

As consumers prioritize, medical expenses lose out

(Newser) - Yet another casualty of the recession could wind up being an irreplaceable one: Americans' health. Consumers are increasingly skipping doctor visits and skimping on prescription meds, the Wall Street Journal reports. "It's hard to get people to follow up when they're having to decide between the gas bill, the...

Unemployment Rate Hits 5-Year High of 6.1%

Factory workers hit hardest as unforeseen fall in jobs stuns economy

(Newser) - Jobless figures came in worse than expected today, sending the unemployment rate to a nearly five-year high of 6.1%, Bloomberg reports. The US lost 84,000 jobs in August, the eighth straight month of declines, raising the specter of a worsening economic slowdown. The jump in unemployment, which was...

Dell, Income Data Sour Stocks
 Dell, Income Data Sour Stocks 
MARKETS
Aug 29, 2008 3:24 PM CDT

Dell, Income Data Sour Stocks

3-day streak of gains broken on weak computer profits, lower income figures

(Newser) - Stocks lost value today on disappointing second-quarter earnings from computer maker Dell and news of declining personal incomes, MarketWatch reports. Trading remained light ahead of the Labor Day weekend as the Dow lost 171.22 to close at 11,543.96. The Nasdaq dropped 44.12, to 2,367.52,...

Shopping in US Looks Like the 1970s: Analyst

Automotive industry, discounters predict permanent shift

(Newser) - Retailers and marketers are closely watching American shopping trends, knowing that recession habits can linger for years, the AP reports. Studies show that 63% of Americans have cut down spending by coupon-cutting, biking to work, and buying store brands. They're also buying smaller cars and shopping at discounters. "We...

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