streak could be ending. meanwhile, the busy father s day and juneteenth holiday weekend was a nightmare for airline passengers. according to flight aware, more than 900 flights were canceled sunday across the u.s. since thursday there have been more than 4,000 flight cancellations, another 1,500 flights have already been canceled today. let s bring in cnn chief business correspondent and early start co-anchor christine romans. we were talking last week about a vibe shift and, man, does it feel like we are right there. it really does. the mighty american consumer, the backbone of the u.s. economy remains strong but how long that lasts in the face of decades high inflation, that s what experts are scouring the data for. now, gas prices have been a daily tax on families and sentiment. prices at the pump have stopped rising at least, the average price per gallon dipping below $5 to $4.98 but the busy summer travel season is about to start, that could push prices higher agai
Have been straddling, doing things, so we ve been more detached from them because we ve still been in the same bubble waiting for the boys to be able to get vaccinated. reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. good morning, everyone, welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world, it is monday, june 20th. i m john berman with brianna keilar. new signs of trouble for the u.s. economy. evidence that americans are starting to pull back on things like travel and dining out at restaurants. rising prices and concerns about a souring economy appear to be taking a toll on household spending decisions while consumer spending has held strong even with inflation at historic highs, the new data suggests that the spending
Again and russia s war on ukraine could keep oil prices high for some time. at the same time we are seeing signs americans are changing how they are spending their money. households are cutting back on the big ticket items as prices soar there. may s retail sales pell .3%, that was driven by a 4% drop in car sales. car prices are at record highs, airfares are rising too. u.s. flight bookings dipped 2.3% in may. americans have pulled back spending on services in about the past four to six weeks on things like dining out, travel, air cuts, home cleaning and this is all americans up and down the income ladder. higher income americans unnerved by big stock market losses. there had been hope consumers would shift spending from stockpiling goods during the pandemic to now splurging on vacations and eating out. so watch this space here. and we can see that higher prices are beginning to eat into
Pandemic rainy day funds, although savings americans built up from staying home and stimulus checks, credit card debt has rebounded to all time highs. americans have $868 billion in consumer debt up 16 sfrs from last year. add it all up and inflation has been a grind for family budgets adding more than $300 extra to the cost of basics per family per month. $300. christine, thank you so much for taking us through that. so as americans grow increasingly nervous about the economy the white house is using one phrase over and over again. well, i expect the economy to slow, but i don t think a recession is at all inevitable. a recession is not inevitable, the president really wants to have a steady and stable recovery. not only is a recession not inevitable, but i think that a lot of people are underestimating those strengths and the resilience of the american economy. here with me financial
These type of things, will inflation go down in the coming months, are we talking 2 or 12 or 50? americans are looking at this and going to the grocery store, and they feel it and they see it. it has an effect on their life. i completely appreciate that, which is why it was so important to the president to first of all passing our rescue plan to ensure that households had the resources that they needed. i know we have been reporting that yes, wages real wages on average with the added resources that americans have had through other sources, their overall disposable incomes is ahead. so we understand that prices are higher and people and that s a challenge, but that s exactly why it was important that we support families getting through this pandemic. so look. i don t have a crystal ball. forecasters on average expected inflation to be about half of what it is today this time next year, but honestly it will depend on the pandemic and as we get through this, but as you