US Consumer Spending Higher This Year -- Gallup

Average daily spending this February rose by 3.3% compared with February 2011, according to the latest survey results from Gallup. Spending averaged $63/day this year compared with $61/day last year. Compared with January 2012, spending was flat.

Among Americans earning less than $90,000/year, spending rose slightly from $54/day last year to $55/day this year in February. Among higher income Americans spending fell from $117/day last year to $110/day this year.

Among the implications of the Gallup survey:

[T]he improvement in consumer spending appears to be driven by an increase in lower- and middle-income, not upper-income, spending. A spending increase by these first two groups of Americans, who tend to have limited disposable income, may not be maintainable. … Experience suggests that as gas prices increase rapidly, consumers — particularly lower- and middle-income consumers — tend to pull back on their spending. Of course, whether upper-income Americans ignore gas prices, end their “frugality fatigue” in light of the gains on Wall Street, and keep the U.S. economy moving forward even as other Americans pull back is yet to be seen.

The Gallup results are available here.