One in four American adults expect someone in their household to have less money coming in over the next month. One in three are having a tough time paying their basic living expenses. And almost 10 million are behind or risk falling behind on their monthly mortgage or rent payments, according to the Census Bureau’s weekly Household Pulse Survey.
These are some of the American consumers who together drive about 70% of the U.S. economy. These households have been mostly left out of the economic rebound. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty. There’s still a lot of precariousness,” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic told me last week.
In the week ahead, investors will get a peek at consumer uncertainty. It won’t be in government data or corporate quarterly financial results, though both are on the calendar in the coming week. Big banks like JP Morgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo release third quarter numbers mid-week and September retail sales will be released Friday.
Instead, Amazon Prime Days will be an early and real-time test of consumer spending appetites heading into the holidays. The online giant delayed its annual e-commerce buying binge invention Prime Day from July to this week because of the pandemic. The promotion was pushed back twice as Amazon navigated around infection spikes and strains on its warehouses from the pandemic shift to online shopping.
