US stocks tumble as deepening consumer gloom raises stagflation fears

MT HANNACH
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Wall Street’s actions fell on Friday while signs of tension among American consumers added to the concerns that the United States is moving towards stagflation access.

A batch of data has added new evidence that consumers are deeply careful about how President Donald Trump price Affects the largest economy in the world, while a separate report has shown that the favorite inflation measure of the federal reserve has increased in February.

Dark data occurs at a time when investors fear that Trump’s commercial levies combined with a broader feeling of uncertainty deals with the economic growth of the United States while increasing prices. The new reports have sent investors rushing to American actions and in paradise.

Wall Street’s S&P 500 fell by 2% while the NASDAQ composite focused on technology slipped by 2.7%. The debt of the American government has rallied, pushing the yield of the treasury to 10 years down 0.11 percentage points at 4.26%.

“American data only inflates stagflation fears,” said James Knightley, an economist at Investment Bank ING. “Hot inflation and cooling consumption expenses are trends that are likely to be intensified by President Trump’s aggressive movements on prices and reductions in public spending.”

A survey by the University of Michigan published on Friday showed that consumers’ feeling plunged in March while the Americans were concerned about their job prospects, inflation and income levels. Households also provide long -term inflation of 4.1%, the highest since 1993.

“The decline of this month [in sentiment] reflects a clear consensus in all demographic and political affiliations, “said the University of Michigan.

He added: “The Republicans have joined the self -employed and the Democrats to express an aggravation of expectations since February for their personal finances, their commercial conditions, their unemployment and their inflation.”

Consumer spending, on the other hand, increased by 0.4% last month, an inversion of the 0.3% decline in January, but not as strong as the 0.5% forecast of economists, a separate report from the American economic analysis.

Oliver Allen, main American economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics, said that consumer spending data was “disappointing” and that “underlying demand for demand growth also seems to be underway”.

Goldman Sachs reduced its forecasts for GDP in the first quarter in response to low data, from 0.4 percentage points to a printed growth rate of 0.6%, citing growth in “softer than expected” personal expenses in February and a downward revision of the January figure.

The Atlanta Fed also reduced its operating forecasts for GDP in the first quarter to show a 2.8% contraction on a annualized basis, compared to 1.8% as recently as Wednesday. Its model contrasted with the banks of Wall Street, which expect growth in early 2025.

On Friday, the BEA report showed that the main reading of the personal consumer expenditure index was up 2.8% in February compared to a year ago.

Economists expected the index, a measure which is closely monitored by the Fed, which eliminates food and energy, at 2.7%, unchanged from the revised upward rate of January. The main PCE index increased by 2.5% last month, unchanged from January.

Fed earlier this month increased his forecasts for inflation and reduces its growth prospects. The president of the Fed, Jay Powell, said at the time that the American economy was still in good shape and that the central bank “did not need to be in a hurry” to reduce interest rates after having reduced them by 1 percentage point last year.

However, the president of the FED chicago branch, Austan Goolsbee, told The Financial Times this week that the Central Bank was no longer on the “Golden Path” of 2023 and 2024 when inflation seemed to return to the target of 2% without derailing economic growth or unemployment.

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