, Columnist
The American Economy Is a Shop Full of Surprises
The sticker shock of the pandemic is in the rearview mirror and consumers are back to their buying ways again.
It’s that time again.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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Economic growth in the US is off to a better start than expected this year, thanks largely to a long-awaited pickup in consumers buying “stuff” again after they shifted spending to experiences in 2022. Shoppers have been spurred by a rapid deceleration in goods inflation, reducing some of the risks associated with a softening in the labor market.
On an inflation-adjusted basis, goods consumption climbed 5% year-over-year in December, its fastest growth since early 2022, with strong demand in both the durables and non-durables categories.