In March, U.S. household income shot up 21.1 percent from February, the U.S. Commerce Department reported, setting a record one-month jump and fueling first-quarter economic growth of 6.4 percent.
The windfall, which included $1,400 in federal payouts to most U.S. adults, sent consumer spending up 4.2 percent and personal consumption spending 10.7 percent higher in March, the biggest monthly gains since June 2020.
The stimulus payments accounted for $3.948 trillion of the month’s extra $4.213 trillion in household income, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The federal stimulus checks coincided with the government’s vaccine campaign, which is giving the jabbed millions confidence to return to stores and, to an extent, restaurants and other public gathering places.
“While stimulus payments are largely behind us, the savings rate jumped to 27.6 percent in March, Jeffries economist Aneta Markowska said to the Financial Times.
TREND FORECAST: Yes, there will be a Biden Bounce as a result of the unprecedented stimulus being pumped into the markets plus the economic rebound resulting in more states and cities ending lockdown rules.
However, as we continually detail in each issue of the Trends Journal, while it is perfectly sensible that business will increase as lockdowns end, the millions of businesses that have been lost are lost… they won’t be coming back.
Moreover, in the new COVID War ABnormal – with a significant number of employees commuting to work much less – the commercial real estate sector and businesses that depended on commuters will take hard economic hits.
