A report on U.S. retail sales will gauge consumers’ willingness to spend at stores, restaurants and online in March, amid turmoil in the banking sector, rising interest rates and easing hiring.
Households pulled back on retail shopping and dining out in February after spending strongly in a warmer-than-usual January. Consumers benefited recently from lower gasoline prices and a broad cooling in inflation. Prices rose at the slowest rate in nearly two years in March. But underlying cost pressures, outside of food and energy, rose. That could keep the Federal Reserve in position to keep raising interest rates at its next meeting.
Read more on wsj.com