Why Yellen Doesn’t Need to Worry About Spooking U.S. Consumers

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has a lot to worry about as she gets ready to raise interest rates for the first time in almost a decade. One concern she may be able to put aside: Spooking U.S. shoppers.

Consumers, whose spending accounts for almost 70 percent of the U.S. economy, aren’t as sensitive as they used to be to declines in the value of stocks and bonds that typically follow an increase in interest rates, according to economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Moody’s Analytics Inc.