Wednesday, 25 November 2009

• Consumer Spending on the Rise

  
  

  
  Finally, some good news. The Daily Beast turned us on to a new report from Bloomberg charting a recent increase in consumer spending. October saw a 0.7 percent rise in spending, which exceeded expert predictions (at 0.5 percent) and came as a welcome change after September's 0.6 percent decline. Income figures also surprised economists by rising by 0.2 percent.
  

  The rise in spending exceeded that of personal incomes, which Bloomberg says caused the U.S. savings rate to decrease to 4.4 percent from 4.6 percent in October. Average disposable income rose by 0.2, the biggest increase since May of this year. And, more recently, the amount of Americans making unemployment claims decreased to 466,000 last week from 501,000 in the previous week, reaching its lowest level since September 2008.
  

  The increase in consumer spending is helping luxury brands the most—Bloomberg focused on J. Crew, a company whose third-quarter profits have seen a more than 200 percent increase, and whose share value has tripled over the year. Meanwhile, Target has yet to feel a rebound in spending, although the chain expects to see a small increase in fourth-quarter sales.
  
  Are you surprised to consumer spending on the increase? Have you noticed a change in your financial habits?
  
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