Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
The US inflation print underscored some established trends. While consumer price inflation has a large fantasy component to it, it seems fairly clear that real incomes have stagnated since January 2025. That means that increases in spending depend on people getting side-hustle employment, being willing to cut savings rates, or being prepared to use their stock of savings. Today’s retail sales data is another signal of how willing consumers are to utilize savings.
