The consumer spending data from the past few days have been pretty extraordinary.
Mastercard said Black Friday spending was up from last year, with gains in both online and in-store sales.
Adobe Analytics reported that Black Friday spending online rose to a record $9.8 billion in the U.S.
Shopify reported that its merchants did a record $4.1 billion in sales worldwide.
And the spending continued into the following week.
In addition to record Black Friday sales, Amazon reported record Cyber Monday sales.
This is consistent with Adobe Analytics data showing U.S. consumers spent a record $12.4 billion online.
All this shopping comes as a ton of people were traveling. According to the TSA, 2.9 million travelers were screened in U.S. airports on Sunday, making it the busiest day for air travel in history.
It’s generally not a great idea to jump to conclusions based on a couple days’ or weeks’ worth of data.
That said, these figures are consistent with all the longer term trends we’ve been discussing in recent months showing resilient spending, rising employment, strong household finances, falling gas prices, and rising stock prices.
-
Related from TKer:
Sam,
I value your comments but you seem to be a permabull.. You are never negative on anything when it comes to the market and that is now giving me pause. I think things are not that good.. but I am just wondering if you can point to any negative posts you have made on the markets as I just dont see them and it makes me question your bias