Since 70% of U.S. GDP growth comes from consumer spending, this could help the economy.
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With two-thirds of GDP derived from consumer spending, these monthly numbers need to be higher to keep the economy chugging.
Now that the world economy is reviving, it wants to rebalance the economy away from consumer spending towards exports and investment.
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In these circumstances, a cheaper dollar will helpfully loosen overall monetary conditions, and also shift the composition of demand from consumer spending towards exports.
"It's absolutely imperative that investors follow the consumer and invest in companies that are benefiting from consumer spending patterns, " says Louis Navellier , editor of Louis Navellier's Blue Chip Growth Letter.
And since 70% of U.S. economic growth springs from consumer spending, the key to getting the economy growing again would be to create more jobs for those consumers so more of the 14.1 million unemployed would have more money in their pockets to spend.
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They remained almost constant in 2008 and then declined by 16% in 2009 primarily due to reduced shipments of products resulting from decreased consumer spending during the economic downturn as well as from the discontinuation of the Nine West sportswear line due to the performance of these products at retail.
Food service distributors will suffer, as their primary customers are restaurants, which have struggled from weak consumer spending.
Weinswig also went relatively easy on other value-oriented stores like BJ's, Costco and Dollar General, as she believes they may benefit from conservative consumer spending patterns over the next two years.
Moody's, the international credit-rating agency, recently warned that global consumer electronics giants are vulnerable to problems arising from "low consumer spending and rapidly declining prices" in North America and Europe.
To sustain its catch-up with America, China needs to rebalance its economy away from exports towards consumer spending, which will require a rise in its real exchange rate.
The Brazil fund is more weighted towards the Brazilian retail sector and benefits from increased Brazilian consumer spending on the back of a stronger currency and pricier Brazilian commodity exports.
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It would hasten the reorientation of China's economy from exports to consumer spending, give its central bank more freedom to fight inflation, and divert demand to depressed Europe and America, catalysing an essential rebalancing of the global economy.
Lowe's has been battered on two fronts, suffering from the downturn in consumer spending and the ongoing housing crisis.
This would reduce the stimulus to consumer spending from households releasing some of their wealth by borrowing against their properties.
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The transmission mechanism from interest rates to consumer spending is weaker, largely because of less developed and less competitive mortgage markets.
In the past decade the use of cash and checks has steadily declined, to 61% of consumer spending from 81% in 1990.
This growth comes not just from the rebound in consumer spending.
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Hi-def Blu-ray discs, which were supposed to usher in a new era of movie library upgrades, have yet to make up the losses from piracy and weak consumer spending.
It has been benefiting from the rebound in consumer spending and the fact that it does not generally resort to heavy discounting in order to protect its premium brand image.
That is a sizeable hit, and it comes on top of the other problems facing America's economy, such as the drag on consumer spending from falling housing wealth or a weaker job market.
"You're seeing a gradual recovery in consumer spending from some of the disastrous numbers we saw after the crisis in 2008, " said Omair Sharif, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC in Stamford, Conn.
During the first four months of 2006, for example, each month brought a minimum 6% hike in consumer spending from the corresponding month in 2005, while Wal-Mart's year-over-year comp sales were bouncing from as low as 0.9% to as high as 4.3%.
On Friday, the government said consumer spending rose from January through March at the fastest pace in more than two years.
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Indeed, there is growing evidence that the American economy is overheating despite the chilly breeze from across the Pacific: consumer spending continues to boom, unemployment is at a 30-year low of 4.3%, and inflation is starting to creep up.
Despite some recent encouraging reports related to consumer spending, consumer spending behavior is clearly still suffering from the recession that began in December of 2007.
It intensifies the squeeze on households from other tax rises and curbs consumer spending.
The recession snapped at retailers from two ends - both inhibiting consumer spending and sending the value of the properties shops inhabit crashing.
Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott reportedly told analysts on a conference call the company did not see any evidence that consumer spending will slow from current levels.
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