Americans’ concerns regarding credit conditions and their own financial situations deteriorated in May, while anxieties over inflation in the coming months dropped to the lowest point since May 2021, new data published on June 12 show. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s May survey of consumer expectations, median inflation expectations among Americans declined by 0.3…

Consumer confidence dipped again in April as anxiety over a slowing economy and possible recession weighed on American households. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 101.3 in April from 104 in March. It’s the third time in four months that overall U.S. consumer confidence has declined. Optimism about current…

WASHINGTON—Consumer confidence inched up in March after two straight monthly declines, even as persistent inflation, bank collapses and anxiety over a possible recession weighed on American households. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 104.2 in March from 103.4 in February. Optimism about current conditions fell, though consumers grew slightly…

BOCA RATON, Florida/LONDON—Major consumer companies including Kraft Heinz Co. and Conagra Brands Inc. are culling product lines to combat sky-high costs and falling consumer demand, their executives said this week. Many companies started slimming their offerings during the pandemic and are aggressively renewing those efforts, eliminating less-popular items to focus on products on which they…

Commentary Much economic news coming out of China references “revenge spending.” It is a strange use of language. Nowhere in its use does anyone indicate who is getting revenge or on whom. It seems to have emerged from the expectation that heavy consumer spending now that the economy has reopened—spending with a “vengeance”—will overcome other…

BERLIN—For 25 years, Theo Jost served the German Christmas dish of goose in his restaurant near the Black Forest. The birds were fresh, reared by farmers in northern Germany. But this year he took the dish off the menu because rising costs all along the supply chain would have doubled its price compared to last…

NEW YORK—As the most important shopping period of the year approaches, some investors are betting shares of beaten-down consumer stocks will benefit if inflation keeps falling and retail sales stay strong. Consumer discretionary stocks, a group whose members run the gamut from Amazon.com Inc. and automaker Tesla Inc. to retailer Target Corp., have been walloped…

TOKYO – Core consumer prices in Japan’s capital, a leading indicator of nationwide figures, rose 3.4 percent in October from a year earlier, data showed on Friday, marking the fastest annual pace since 1989 in a sign of broadening inflationary pressure. The rise in the Tokyo core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh…

BRUSSELS—Eurozone retail sales fell in August, data showed on Thursday, pointing to a weakness in consumer demand and underlining expectations of an approaching recession. The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said retail sales in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell 0.3 percent month-on-month for a 2.0 percent year-on-year drop. Economists polled by Reuters had…

WASHINGTON—New orders for U.S.-manufactured capital goods increased more than expected in August, suggesting that businesses remained keen to invest in equipment despite higher interest rates, which could keep the economy on a moderate growth path. Some of the largest gain in orders in seven months reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, however, reflected higher…