US Consumer Spending Increase Does Not Warrant Economic Growth

Despite suffering from financial anxiety, US consumers are starting to spend more and more. In fact, the average US consumer has been spending more for four months in a row now. Particularly automobiles are in strong demand, which is rather surprising. This doesn’t necessarily warrant economic growth in the US, though.

US Consumer Spending Rises, Albeit Only Slightly

One needs money to spend money, and many US consumers are dealing with financial anxiety right now. Despite those economic concerns, consumers seem to be spending a little bit more every month. Just last month, spending rise by 0.3% on a national level, which is quite good given the current financial turmoil.

It is rather interesting to note automobiles are the driving reason for this spending growth. For some reason, people are more eager to buy a new car over the past four months, compared to earlier this year. While spending is going up, the US economy remains almost flat, though. So far, there was a 1.1% annual growth rate during the second quarter of 2016.

All of this is boosting the US stock futures as well. The US Dollar is showing a very bullish trend, as it has done so earlier this year as well. At the same time, wages are being lifted gradually, which will improve consumer spending in the coming months. Property values are on the rise as well, which is a welcome trend after years of uncertainty.

Despite all of this positive news, there are some caveats to take into account. First of all, personal consumption expenditures are only up by 0.1%. It is important to note these expenses do not include food and energy costs. Both markets are far too volatile to create a proper value representation.

Either way, the US market is showing small signs of recovery once again. This was direly needed, as the past year has been far from positive so far. However, people need to keep in mind these numbers are very small, and do not represent economic growth by any means. Whether or not all of this is good for Bitcoin, remains to be seen.

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