The situation for the consumer continues to deteriorate – hot inflation, too much debt and a rising cost of capital, a fast-cooling housing market, and a deteriorating jobs picture — including several emerging headwinds that were hardly on the radar until recently.
As always, the goal here is to keep you well-informed so that you’re able to take prudent action today to reduce your exposure to what’s ahead, and possibly even position yourself to prosper from it.
OK, first off, a reminder: consumer spending makes up nearly 70% of GDP. Where the health of the US consumer goes, so goes the US economy:
And right now, in a nutshell, the US consumer is getting squeezed.
Inflation continues to run hot, raising the cost of living to painful levels for essentials like food, rent & gas:
While at the same time, the cost of capital is rising. This impacts everyone getting a mortgage, an auto loan, or using a credit card to buy groceries. They can afford to buy less, because the debt they’re taking on now costs more.
