Although COVID-19 vaccination is about to start, it seems unlikely to save the US consumer market by the end of the year! Nearly 40 percent of Americans surveyed said they would buy fewer Christmas gifts than last year, the highest rate since 2013, according to a foreign media survey. People of all income groups said they planned to spend less.
The survey also showed that only 11 percent of Americans said they would buy more Christmas presents this year, compared with an average spending of us $886 (HK $6,910) per person, down 10 percent from a year earlier. Of the 800 people interviewed, 29 percent said the reduction in consumption was mainly due to lower salaries, 17 percent attributed it to the epidemic and 17 percent attributed it to the poor economy.
In fact, the recent rebound in the epidemic has hindered the recovery of the U.S. economy. On average, economists surveyed expect the U.S. economy to grow just 1.9 percent in the first quarter of next year, slowing from an estimate of 3.3 percent last month, according to a separate survey. They also forecast an average of just 295,000 new jobs a month in the first quarter, down from an earlier estimate of 440,000.
Gregory Daco, chief economist at Oxford Economics, said the immediate data showed the United States headed into the New Year slowing as health conditions deteriorated and employment and consumption weakened.
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