Deloitte: Consumer spending still down - Orlando Business Journal:

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The index fell to 1.35 percent from an downwardly reviser gainof 1.44 percent in Deloitte said the index analyzed tax burden, initial unemployment claims, real wages and real home prices to try to tracmk consumer cash flow as an indicator of futurre consumer spending. "The year over year pace of declinee in real consumer spending appearss tohave stabilized, however, recoverhy is being delayed by a sharp increase in consume r savings, which has risen to 5.7 percent from zero a year said Carl Steidtmann, chief economist with Deloitte Research and author of the monthlty index, in a statement.
"However, the weaknesds in the index was driven almost entirely by fallinyghome prices, which are down nearly 14 perceny over the past undermining small gains in real a declining tax burden and current stabilizatiob in new unemployment claims." The report notex the tax burden continues to drop with the weakening of the It is at a level only seen on a few occasion s over the past 50 years durint brief periods following tax rebates. Continued decline is Also notable, real wage growthy continues to post small gainse due to falling pricesfor energy. Real wagesa are up 4.
3 percent from a year ago and on an annualizedf basis are up 8 percentt over the last nine months as energy pricea have given a big boost to consumedpurchasing power, the index said.