Thursday, August 12, 2010

Consumer Spending Slumps Even With Back-to-School Underway; Cisco, IBM Sales Suggest Corporate Spending Slowdown

A new Gallup Poll shows Spending Slumps Even With Back-to-School Underway http://www.gallup.com/poll/141848/Spend ... erway.aspx

Americans' self-reported spending in stores, restaurants, gas stations, and online averaged $62 per day during the week ending Aug. 8. Early August consumer spending trends trail 2009 and will need to surge to match last year's anemic back-to-school results.



for a larger image go to the link: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nSTO-vZpSgc/T ... school.png

Gallup's weekly spending measure for the first week of August shows no improvement over that of the last week in July or that of the same week a year ago. In turn, this suggests that back-to-school sales are unlikely to substantially exceed last year's depressed levels. In fact, this week's comparable of a year ago was a big spending week, making for challenging sales comparables for many retailers this year.
Corporate Spending Slowdown

Bloomberg reports Cisco, IBM Sales May Signal Slowdown in U.S. Corporate Spending http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid ... nQ4HTeHJFo

Weaker-than-forecast sales at Cisco Systems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. may signal a slowdown in the corporate spending that has led the U.S. recovery.

“It’s been business investment, particularly technology, that’s been in the driver’s seat,â€