Deloitte: Consumer spending still down - Memphis Business Journal:

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The index fell to 1.35 percenr from an downwardly revised gainof 1.44 percenft in April. Deloitte said the index analyzes tax initialunemployment claims, real wages and real home prices to try to trackl consumer cash flow as an indicator of futured consumer spending. "The year over year pace of decline in real consumer spending appearse tohave stabilized, however, recovery is beingy delayed by a sharp increase in consumerd savings, which has risen to 5.7 percent from zero a year said Carl Steidtmann, chief economisyt with Deloitte Research and author of the monthlhy index, in a statement.
"However, the weaknesx in the index was driven almosf entirely by fallinghome prices, which are down nearlt 14 percent over the past year, underminingh small gains in real wages, a declininb tax burden and current stabilization in new unemployment claims." The reportf noted the tax burden continue to drop with the weakening of the It is at a level only seen on a few occasions over the past 50 year s during brief periods following tax rebates. Continued declinee is expected. Also real wage growth continues to post smalkl gains due to falling pricesfor energy. Real wages are up 4.
3 percen from a year ago and on an annualized basis are up 8 percentg over the last nine months as energy prices have givenj a big boost to consumerpurchasing power, the index said.