The consumer confidence index—which takes into account consumers’ assessment of current conditions and the their outlook for the future—rose to 115.8 in December, the highest reading since July.
But prospects for a solid rebound going forward are being clouded by the rapid spread of the latest variant of the coronavirus.
A heightened sense of anxiety has begun to erode the willingness of some people and some businesses to carry on as usual in the face of the extraordinarily contagious omicron variant.
The government’s report last week that consumer prices jumped 6.8% over the past year showed that some of the largest cost spikes have been for such necessities as food, energy, housing, autos and clothing.
Over nearly two years, Congress has committed nearly $6 trillion toward combating the virus and boosting the economy, but some of the most significant programs to keep businesses afloat and help households pay bills have expired or run out of funds.
The last of six monthly payments, up to $300 per child, is scheduled to hit bank accounts on Wednesday.
With Americans paying more across the board for necessities like food and gas, the slowdown in spending may be an indication of inflation fatigue.
The increase in wholesale prices was widespread, led by a 1.2% increase in the cost of goods and a 0.7% rise in the price of services.
Across the United States, in homes and in businesses, the highest inflation in a generation is heightening financial pressures and forcing people to adapt to a new reality.
The Labor Department also reported Friday that prices rose 0.8% from October to November—a substantial increase, though slightly less than 0.9% increase from September to October.
The four-week moving average, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, fell below 219,000, lowest since the pandemic hit the United States in March 2020.
Most people say the sharply higher prices for goods and services in recent months have had at least a minor effect on their financial lives, including about 4 in 10 who say the hit has been substantial.
Americans are in line for their biggest wage increase in more than a decade, according to a report released Wednesday, as companies struggle against a tight labor market and high inflation.
The figures from the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, or JOLTS, show that with so many companies chasing relatively few unemployed people, job-seekers have the most bargaining power they have had in at least two decades.
The October deficit was the smallest monthly deficit since a $66.2 billion imbalance in April.
The nation’s business economists have sharply raised their forecasts for inflation, predicting an extension of the price spikes that have resulted in large part from bottlenecked supply chains.
Overall, the November jobs figures point to a job market and an economic recovery that look resilient though under threat from a spike in inflation, shortages of workers and supplies and the potential impact of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, fell below 239,000, a pandemic low.
General Motors raised its outlook Wednesday and said it expects to return to a normal production rate by the end of next year.
In a survey of business conditions, the Fed’s 12 regional banks found that the economy continued to grow at a modest-to-moderate pace. But because of supply chain problems, price increases were reported to be widespread across the economy.
