Walmart executives said that its shoppers are still in good financial shape, and they don’t see any major changes in consumer behavior patterns like trading down to cheaper labels—although they’re paying close attention to higher prices.
In total, fewer than 1.6 million Americans were collecting jobless aid the week that ended Feb. 5, a decrease of about 26,000 from the previous week.
Volatility in retail sales data is emerging after the pandemic and as related supply crunches drastically altered the behavior of Americans
Inflation, under control for four decades, re-emerged as an economic issue last year as the United States rebounded with unexpected speed from 2020’s short but devastating coronavirus recession.
A worsening inflation picture has touched off a range of opinions from the Federal Reserve’s policymakers about just how fast they should raise interest rates.
The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, declined by 2,000, to 253,250, after rising for five straight weeks as the omicron variant of the coronavirus spread, disrupting business in many parts of the U.S.
The acceleration of prices ranged across the economy, from food and furniture to apartment rents, airline fares and electricity.
The persistence of inflation, now running at an annual rate of 7%, has provided ammunition to conservative critics of the central bank known as “monetarists” for their adherence to the writings of economist Milton Friedman.
The report Friday from the Commerce Department also said that consumer spending fell 0.6% in December, with purchases of cars, electronics, and clothes declining.
The economy ended the year by growing at an unexpectedly brisk 6.9% annual pace from October through December as businesses replenished their inventories, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The International Monetary Fund slashed the growth forecast for the United States—world’s largest economy—to 4%, down from the 5.2% it predicted in October.
Jobless claims rose for the third straight week—by 55,000, to 286,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The jump in claims marked the biggest one-week increase since mid-July.
Target’s top executive said U.S. consumers will drive less and consolidate their shopping into fewer trips as they adjust to pricier gasoline and the highest inflation rate in almost four decades.
The unpredictability of shipping, labor and the coronavirus itself have created an environment where owners are often left guessing about when products might arrive and how much they’ll cost.
The weekly applications, a proxy for layoffs, have risen in four of the last five weeks, a period that runs in tandem with the spread of the omicron variant.
The Federal Reserve said its 12 regional banks found that the economy was continuing to grow, but many regions reported a sudden pullback in spending on leisure travel, hotels and restaurants because of the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Rising prices have wiped out the healthy pay increases that many Americans have been receiving, making it harder for households, especially lower-income families, to afford basic expenses.
Fed officials now expect to raise short-term interest rates three times this year, a sharp shift from September, when they were divided over doing it even once. Economists increasingly expect them to raise rates at least four times in 2022.
On Wednesday, the government is expected to report that consumer prices jumped 7.1% over the past 12 months, which would be the steepest such increase in decades.
Wages also rose sharply, a sign that companies are competing fiercely to fill their open jobs. A record-high wave of quitting, as many workers seek better jobs, is also fueling pay raises.
