US consumer opinion about economy somewhat upbeat in summer: McKinsey

Source：CHINA SPORTING GOODS FEDERATIONRelease time：2023-10-17Clicks：

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US consumer opinion about the economy remained somewhat upbeat through the summer after glimmers of optimism in the spring, as indicated by McKinsey’s ConsumerWise sentiment survey, which found American consumers to be cautiously optimistic.

With this tempered optimism came an increase in consumer spending year on year (YoY), with a positive change seen across most categories, McKinsey said in an update.

US consumer optimism in the third quarter (Q3) this year dropped slightly from the year’s spring highs. Thirty-three per cent of US consumers reported feeling optimistic about the economy over the summer, while 44 per cent reported mixed feelings, a two-percentage-point increase from April this year.

Optimism about the economy grew the most among baby boomers (from 21 per cent in April to 28 per cent in August), while millennials reported the biggest decline in optimism (55 per cent in April to 39 per cent in August).

Somewhat surprisingly, high-income consumers reported the largest decline in optimism relative to other income groups, McKinsey’s Christina Adams, Kari Alldredge, Sajal Kohli and Andrew Pitakos of the company’s ConsumerWise team wrote.

As inflation continued to cool, both real and nominal spending increased slightly from the previous year. The real YoY spending change rate continued to hover around 3 per cent for the second consecutive month, up from around 1 per cent in May this year.

The gaps in spending growth between high-income and low-income consumers, boomers and Gen Z, and everyone in between narrowed over the summer.

For the second consecutive month, the survey saw real YoY spending growth across all income and age groups hover around 3 per cent on an average. Middle- and high-income consumers’ YoY spending rose slightly more than that of low-income consumers.

Over the summer, Gen Z and millennials across all income groups indicated the highest intent to splurge, at 55 per cent and 54 per cent respectively.

Although the intent to splurge for these two age groups was slightly lower than it was in the spring, the opposite was true for middle-income Gen Z respondents: in the summer, 57 per cent said they plan to splurge compared with only 55 per cent in the spring. Among all age and income groups, the intent to splurge was most prevalent among high-income millennials.