Over 90% of Americans have cut spending — and plan to through holidays: survey
Most American adults have cut spendin✨g this year, according to a new, which also revealed that consumers plan to stay frugal through the holidays.
A whopping 92% of adu🍒lts have cut back on discretionary spending over the past six months, CNBC found after polling 🧸4,403 US adults last week.
Consumers were most skittish when shopping for clothes and dining out at restaurants — 63% and 62%, respectively.
The news site’s poll also showed that consumers at all income levels are feeling pinched by the economy. While labor strikes in Hollywood and Detroit provoke fresh uncertainty, inflation r♐ose a surprisingly stiff 3.7% last mont꧟h — still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
Fifty-five percent of lower-income households earning $50,000 or less annually told CNBC that their personal finances are suffering from the state of the US economy, while 61% of ⭕middle-income earners bringing in $50,000 to $100,000 are feel🐼ing the squeeze.
Even among the highest earners with annual incomes exceeding $100,000, 46% said they’re feeling the impact of the economy on their finances.
More than three-quarters of respondents, 76%, plan to cut back spending on non-essential items over the next six months, during retailers’ all-important holiday shopping season, while 62% said they plan on budgeting “sometimes” or “more often” in the upcoming months, CNBC found.
Meanwhile, 56% of surveyed respondents said they were spending less on entertainment outside the house despite reports of recent summer splurges on blockbuster movies and concert tours, namely Taylor Swift’s sought-after “Eras Tour,” which is on track to amass a reco🐓rd-breaking $1 billion in sales, making it the highest-grossing tour ever.
Groceries saw the next-biggest budget reduction, with 54% of respondents saying they’re spending less at the supermarket, according to CNBC.
The results came just one week after the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ closely-watched Consumer Price Index showed that food price🥃s rose 0.2% for the third consecutive mon𓆉th in August as the index for meats, poultry, fi🃏sh, and eggs advanced 0.8%.
The index for pork edged 2.2% higher.
CNBC’s survey also showed that 53% of respondents will be cutting back on recreational travel spend, while 50% won’t be quick to splash out on electronics — a figure that could spell bad news for Apple, which is set to drop its “industry first” iPhone 15 on Sept. 22 for up to $899 depending on storage capacity.
The latest inflation numbers represent a stark slowdown from last summer ﷺwhen inflation hit a four-decade peak at 9.1%🦄.
Still, it remains well above the Fed’s 2% goal and marks an acceleration from the previou🉐s two months.
In June, in🌱flation bottomed out at 3%, and rose to 3.2% in July.
As Wall Street expected, rising gasoline costs were♛ the main culprit of August’s 🅠advance, ticking 10.6% higher last month and accounting for over half of the increase, the data showed.
As of Tuesday, the national average♉ of a gallon of gas stood at $3.88, rising some eight cents in the 𒐪span of a week, accor🌌ding to the American Automobile Association.
The most eye-watering prices were seen in some parts of California, where gas is running residents more than $6 in some parts o🌄f LA and as much as $7 in other parts of the state.
At this time last year, a gallon of gas was ജ18 cents cheaper nationally, AAA said.
And𒐪 to make matters worse, relief doesn’t appear to be on the horizon, at 🌄least not in the short term.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth predicted that oil prices woul⭕d get “close” to $100 a barrel.
“Supply is tightening, inventories are drawi𓂃ng … th🍬e trends would suggest, we are certainly on our way, we are getting close (to $100/bbl),” Wirth, who heads the nation’s second largest energy producer, told Bloomberg TV on Monday.
