Americans still spending like there’s no tomorrow

“When you have higher inflation, but also higher interest rates, you don’t expect spending to hold up so well,” says adviser Wilbert van der Klaauw. (Illustration: The Wall Street Journal)

The Wall Street Journal

Sun, 08 Oct 2023

By Rachel WolfeConsumers should be spending less by now.Interest rates are up. Inflation remains high. Pandemic savings have shrunk. And the labour market is cooling.Yet household spending, the primary driver of the nation’s economic growth, remains robust. Americans spent 5.8% more in August than a year earlier, well outstripping less than 4% inflation. And the experience economy boomed this summer, with Delta Air Lines reporting record revenue in the second quarter and Ticketmaster selling more than 295,000 even...

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