Holiday Spending May Disappoint

The U.S. holiday shopping season may not live up to economists’ robust expectations, a survey out Tuesday suggested, with more Americans saying they would cut spending from last year’s already weak levels.

A pessimistic survey from the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association said consumers are cautious because of lingering concern about the economy and worries about household debt.

Most private-sector economists have predicted strong U.S. holiday spending, fueled by leftover cash from summer tax cuts and renewed confidence in the economic recovery.

But 34 percent of consumers surveyed said they would spend less during the holidays than they did in 2002, a big jump from the 21 percent who said so last year. The survey of 1,017 adults was conducted from Nov. 13 to Nov. 16.
Only 15 percent planned to shell out more – down from 16 percent a year ago – while the percentage of people who said they would spend about the same amount fell to 50 percent from 61 percent a year ago.

“This is a surprising result,” said Bill Hampel, chief economist at the Credit Union National Association, noting that until he got the survey results a week ago he, too, had been expecting a surge in holiday spending.

“But this survey tells us that consumers are still more nervous about the economy than we might have expected,” Hampel noted. “Their confidence in the recovering economy is lagging the actual growth in the economy.”

Source: Reuters