'Walmart Worries' just keep multiplying. It's currently close to the highest level ever recorded which was during the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-09.
Americans are feeling this, I don't have to tell you guys. If you have filled up a tank of gas, you are paying 80 to 90 cents more per gallon than before this war began. That's a sharp increase. It's painful. You feel it and it will impact your spending everywhere else. It's an economic hit.
Not that long ago, restaurant chains like Cava, Chipotle and Sweetgreen had lines streaming out of their doors at lunchtime. But last year, traffic and sales at many of them softened considerably, and their stock prices plunged. Still, don't look for this restaurant segment to slash menu prices any time soon. It's simply not part of its DNA, some restaurant analysts say.
In a world where third spaces are dying, and consumers are being segregated between haves and have-nots at every turn, the airport bar has quietly endured. But the airport bar is not-so-quietly under siege. Airport concessions took a hit during the pandemic, and while they benefited from the subsequent revenge travel, the rebound has stalled.
U.S. economic growth cooled significantly in the fourth quarter of 2025, which the Trump administration attributed to last fall's record-long federal government shutdown and softer consumer spending. Gross domestic product rose at a 1.4 percent seasonally adjusted, inflation-adjusted annual rate in the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department said Friday, well below the 2.5 percent pace expected by economists.
The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEARCA:XRT) tracks the S&P Retail Select Industry Index with equal-weighted exposure across 73 retail holdings spanning apparel, grocery, discount, and specialty retail. Unlike market-cap weighted funds, XRT's equal-weight structure means smaller retailers carry the same influence as mega-caps like Walmart. XRT has delivered 11.05% returns over the past year, but recent momentum has stalled - the fund is up just 2.47% year-to-date and has pulled back 3.34% over the past month, reflecting growing uncertainty about the consumer spending outlook.
"We continue to see extraordinary demand for travel and experiences," Capuano told Yahoo! Finance. "It feels like a fundamentally permanent shift that consumers are prioritizing spending on travel and experiences versus purchase of hard goods." The hotel chain expects earnings growth in 2026, with revenue driven by adding rooms to its portfolio and higher co-branded credit card fees. While U.S. business was slightly weaker in the fourth quarter due to the government shutdown, Capuano says the fundamentals remain strong.
As we settle into 2026, London's economic landscape suggests a definitive answer. The city is witnessing a profound transformation in how services are consumed, driven by a population that has become increasingly comfortable with a digital-first existence. From financial management to high-end entertainment, the demand for seamless, instant, and secure online services has reached unprecedented levels, reshaping the commercial priorities of businesses across Greater London.
"For you to have money, you have to learn to live below your means but within your needs. How do you do that? You do that by simply purchasing needs versus wants. What is a need? Need is food that you buy at a grocery store. What is a want? A want is going out to eat at a restaurant and doing it over and over again."
As economist Dean Baker explains for the Center for Economic Policy and Research, for AI companies' current valuations to make sense, they'd need profit growth over the next five years that requires one of two things: either AI starts bringing in cash by the truckload, or profits for all the other corporations in America collapse. Both prospects seem extremely unlikely, yet the AI investments keep coming - and they seem to be dragging American workers into an economy their wages can't support.
Donald Trump became president for the second time on this day in 2025. With that came a lot of new economicplans for trade, immigration, and the federal workforce. Elizabeth Renter, a senior economist at NerdWallet, said uncertainty from actual or potential policy changes affected consumers, job seekers, and small to midsize businesses. "There was a lot of guesswork happening in 2025, and then you add to that mix issues with economic statistics, and sort of reading the tea leaves to figure out where the economy is headed amidst all this change became increasingly difficult," Renter said.
Examining data from external studies as well as its own survey, CableTV.com found that though consumers have the choice of hundreds of channels - for example, Verizon Fios offers some 400 channels in its top-tier plans - consumers, on average, watch only about 15 channels. With cable bills continuing to rise, that means consumers are paying more for channels they don't watch,
Companies across the state say rising operating costs continue to squeeze their outlook, according to the latest Associated Industries of Massachusetts Business Confidence Index. Confidence in both the state and U.S. economies has dropped more than 15 points from a year ago, even as consumer spending holds steady and business investment shows resilience. "Consumer spending has remained relatively resilient, supported by steady job growth, rising real wages in some sectors, and strong balance sheets among higher-income households," said Sara Johnson, chair of the AIM Board of Economic Advisors.
Since becoming CEO of Molson Coors last fall, I've thought a lot about the need to champion not just beer - a cultural staple of conviviality for thousands of years - but the occasions where beer has played a role in bringing people together. And indeed, the beverage industry thinks in terms of "occasions," but it's obvious that we're in the middle of something culturally and economically, broadly thought of as strain on Americans' wallets mixed with what some have dubbed a "loneliness epidemic."
According to a new survey by Salesforce, consumers spent a record-breaking $1.29 trillion globally, and $294 billion in the U.S., amid higher average selling prices, up 7% year-over-year, during the recent holiday season. Sales growth reached 7% globally and 4% in the U.S., indicating that consumer appetite remained strong from the start of the season through the end. Order volumes were also up, 3% globally and and 1% in the U.S.
