Increase of 2.4 percent on the previous month
US consumers consumed significantly more in January thanks to new corona checks. Your spending grew 2.4 percent from the previous month, said the US Department of Commerce. The joy of spending was spurred on by the government's corona aid package passed late last year, which gave many Americans $ 600. This increased personal income by an average of ten percent.
With their spending, consumers form the backbone of the US economy, which grew despite the Corona crisis in the fourth quarter of 2020: by an annualized 4.1 percent. The new President Joe Biden wants to launch a corona aid package of around $ 1.9 trillion, which includes additional one-off payments of $ 1,400 per person. That could help the buying mood one more time. The economists at Bank of America believe that the US economy will grow by 6.5 percent this year, after having shrunk by 3.5 percent in 2020.
The US Federal Reserve, which is supposed to promote full employment and stable prices, is watching out for price changes in consumer personal expenses, excluding energy and food costs. This rate of inflation rose slightly to 1.5 percent in January. “Because of this moderate price pressure, the US Federal Reserve will adhere to the ultra-loose monetary policy for the time being, especially since it is currently focusing primarily on the labor market situation,” said Helaba economist Ralf Umlauf. “There are still around ten million jobs missing that were lost in the crisis.”
