Consumers – that’s people like you and me going about our daily activities – account for the lion’s share of overall economic activity in our economy. So following consumer sentiment or confidence is important to everyone from businesspeople to politicians.
One of the latest tools for assessing the outlook of everyday people comes from the major banks. A couple of them share what they are seeing in their client accounts – particularly spending patterns as they track credit and debit cards.
The overall grade? We’re doing pretty well.
The latest report from TD observes spending maintained a healthy pace through much of the summer, even when you strip out the impact of higher gasoline prices. We cut back a bit on buying goods, but we were a little more aggressive when it came to services such as entertainment or recreation. And travel was gaining momentum through the summer.
Over at RBC, they said August activity in client accounts matched the TD findings quite closely. Businesses selling travel, recreation or entertainment found willing buyers, while essential goods purchases remained steady.
— For more than 50 years, Paul Martin has specialized in coverage of the business and political scenes. His career has spanned radio, television and print and electronic media.
