Heaven-spent
Big sales boost is good sign for 2014
CONSUMERS went on their biggest spending spree in five months in November, raising hopes they’ll keep the economy chugging ahead into 2014.
Household spending rose 0.5% last month, marking a seventh straight month of gains, the Commerce Department said.
With the stock market barreling to record highs and home values on the rise, consumers have gained a bit more courage to open their wallets.
Still, some shoppers were holding back just ahead of Christmas despite retailers’ deep discounts.
Retail sa les at br ick and mortar stores fell last weekend vs. a year earlier as store traffic fell 4%, according to RetailNext.
Of those with presents still to buy, 25% said they were holding out for even bigger bargains, up from 21% last year, RetailNext said.
In the week that ended on Saturday, store visits plummeted 21% and sales fell 3%, researcher ShopperTrak reported.
Sales during the key holiday season are expected to rise 3.9% this year, according to the National Retail Federation. That would be the weakest performance since 2009 as the U.S. was emerging from the Great Recession.
In November, consumers spent heavily on pricier, long-lasting items like cars — a trend that may be biting into Americans’ budgets for items like clothing, Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, told the Daily News.
“This economy just hasn’t been strong enough to support spending on both big ticket items and discretionary gift-related items for the holidays,” Perkins said.
Shoppers had to dig into their savings to pay for purchases in November as incomes rose only 0.2%, the Commerce Department said. The savings rate fell to 4.2% from 4.5% in October.