Shop or Drop?
12/13/2011 | | Consumer Spending, Elliot's Brief Blog, Household Net Worth, Luxury Spending, Middle Class, Savings Rate
Consumers are spending but for how much longer? Over the past year disposable income is down, savings has fallen from 5.3% to 3.5%, household net worth has fallen by $2.4 trillion as house prices keep falling and credit card debt is up. Luxury spending is strong but chain-store sales were down in Oct and Nov as were purchases by the middle class. I don’t think households can keep spending at the elevated levels of late.