Last month, Darden Restaurants, which owns the Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse, reported a decline in visits from lower-income households compared to last year, along with slower alcohol sales. But as the economy reopened and more people ventured back out, pent-up demand shifted toward travel and leisure, driving up prices at bars, hotels and airlines that were often paying more for hard-to-find workers. Saul Martinez / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileĮarly in the coronavirus pandemic, homebound consumers raced to scoop up physical goods like exercise bikes, household appliances and pajamas to work from home in, even as supply-chain bottlenecks pushed up prices and delayed deliveries. Restaurant prices are still rising but at a pace that has slowed in recent months. The downtrend comes one year after inflation peaked at a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022, as consumers poured money into the services sector. “It’s the consumer getting to the end of their ‘revenge spending,’” said Skanda Amarnath, the executive director of the macroeconomic policy group Employ America. Ticket prices for sporting events ticked up last month, but the rise came after three straight months of declines. Food away from home, which includes restaurant meals, continued to rise, but the category’s annual growth rate of 7.7% in June slowed from 8.8% in March. That’s good news for consumers, as well as economists and policymakers seeking reasons for optimism that the economy can regain its footing without sliding into a recession.Ĭonsumer Price Index figures released Wednesday morning showed airfares down 19% in June from last year and car rental rates down 12%, for their fifth consecutive month of declines.
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