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23/12/2011 -
Consumer spending continued to improve in November, continuing three straight months of gains. However, the Commerce Department reported on Friday that the 0.1 percent increase in activity was mild and perhaps indicative of a slower economic recovery than many recent projections have suggested.The report was also marred by a 0.1 percent decrease in both wages and salaries, providing further evidence of continued woes in the job market. Overall spending activity was also considerably lower than the 0.3 percent surge projected by economists.
"The consumer is moderately upbeat but we’re not out of the woods yet," John Herrmann, a senior fixed-income strategist at State Street Global Markets, told Bloomberg. "As the bonus allowance is expiring, we have seen a slight cooling of the orders book for manufacturing, and the slowing in the euro zone seems to be impacting manufacturing on the margin."
The news comes as retailers beef up their sales offering two days ahead of Christmas. Many stores throughout the country are extending their Saturday hours in hopes of attracting a few more sales and credit card processing transactions.
