U S Retail Spending Jumps, Coincident With Federal Relief Payments kvnf.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kvnf.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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By Harriet Torry Early signs point to an uptick in consumer spending at the start of the year, particularly by lower- and middle-income households receiving payments through the most recent Covid-19 relief package. Spending by consumers who make less than $60,000 a year jumped by more than 20% in the week ended Jan. 10 the week after the U.S. Treasury Department began electronically sending stimulus payments of $600 per adult and $600 per child for individuals with adjusted gross incomes under $75,000 according to the research group Opportunity Insights tracker of figures from Affinity Solutions, which collects consumer credit- and debit-card spending data.
By Harriet Torry Early signs point to an uptick in consumer spending at the start of the year, particularly by lower- and middle-income households receiving payments through the most recent. | February 17, 2021
Jan. 16 The New York Times·Note: Family incomes are based on the average household ZIP code where a consumer lives. Families living in ZIP codes below $46,000 are reported as low income, and as high income in ZIP codes above $78,000. Figures reflect seasonally adjusted consumer spending as reported by Affinity Solutions. When politicians lack clear answers to such questions, policy choices often rely on intuition and political ideology rather than scientific evidence. The indicators that we currently use to guide policy decisions statistics like gross domestic product and unemployment rates are collected by surveying businesses and households. They provide vital information about the economy as a whole but are often insufficient to guide policy in the moment. The surveys take weeks or months to gather and release. Moreover, they are limited in how finely you can zoom in on the experiences of specific cities or subgroups of Americans.
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After a year that unfolded unlike anybody s predictions, the retail industry and its analysts are trying to game out what 2021 could look like as COVID-19 continues to surge, vaccines against the disease roll out and anxious consumers pine for life after lockdown.
Vaccines that inoculate against the coronavirus could shift many of the trends that 2020 brought, while some changes are likely to remain in place and accelerate as the U.S. and the world try to build a new normal.
Categories that downshifted during the pandemic could see strong demand this year, including apparel, beauty and footwear, according to the NPD Group s Chief Industry Advisor Marshal Cohen. At the same time, those areas those that gained traction in 2020, such as home goods and other categories that helped make stay-at-home life better, could lose steam in 2021.