The Strength of Consumers Is Overstated
Weakening sales trends and wage growth underscore a sustained slowdown in spending.
How much longer can the strong consumer pull the economy along?
Photographer: Keystone/Getty Images
The consensus is that the U.S. consumer is still strong enough to propel the economy forward even though the manufacturing sector has weakened. This view underpins expectations for improved corporate earnings in 2020. But the hard economic data strikes a discordant note.
In particular, growth in industrial production on a year-over-year basis remains in a decisive downturn, sliding deeper into negative territory. Indeed, the production actually declined in 2019 amid losses in manufacturing job in recent months, fueling talk of a recession in that part of the economy.