Consumers continue to spend, spend, spend:
Retail spending in April wasn't quite as great at the Wall Street Journal says, since they naturally didn't bother adjusting for inflation, but it was still pretty good. Spending in April was up 7% over March on an annualized basis, even though the trendline remains far above the pre-pandemic trend.
On the other hand, retail spending has been pretty flat since the start of 2021:
Growth has plateaued since last March, but the plateau is pretty high. So is this good news or bad? I'd say it's pretty good.
Inflation tends to drive spending. Why hold off buying if the price is only going to go up?
Good point. But with mortgage payments going up, child tax credits gone away, wages not keeping up anymore, and credit card interests rates climbing, I guess consumers are going to have to slow down pretty soon.
Why is the caption the same for both charts, "Retail and Food Service Spending - Adjusted for Inflation"? From your article, I'm guessing that the first chart is NOT adjusted for spending.
On the other hand, an awful lot of our current inflation is being driven by fuel prices. That's one reason inflation is relatively low in the NYC area. Is food and retail inflation rising at the same rate? If not, then there may be an actual increase in food and retail spending. To be honest, I have no idea. I'm just trying to figure out the saltine cracker shortage.
They're both adjusted for inflation. The main difference is the time frame. The second chart zooms in on 2021–22.
I always find it curious why you cut graphs off where you do, knowing that anyone can find the same data and look at the longer chart to see that there's a different story to be told.
I did my part, allz I'm sayin'