Deloitte: Consumer spending still down - Dayton Business Journal:

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The index fell to 1.35 percenty from an downwardly revised gainof 1.44 percenrt in April. Deloitte said the indez analyzestax burden, initial unemploymentf claims, real wages and real home pricews to try to track consumer cash flow as an indicatore of future consumer spending. "Thed year over year pace of decline in real consumer spending appears tohave stabilized, recovery is being delayed by a sharp increase in consumert savings, which has risen to 5.7 percent from zero a year said Carl Steidtmann, chief economist with Deloitte Research and authotr of the monthly index, in a statement.
"However, the weaknesz in the index was driven almosf entirely by fallinghome prices, which are down nearly 14 percent over the past year, undermining small gaines in real wages, a declining tax burden and current stabilization in new unemploymenr claims." The report noted the tax burdeb continues to drop with the weakening of the It is at a level seen on only a few occasionz over the past 50 years during brief periods following tax Continued decline is expected. Also real wage growth continues to post small gainss due to falling pricesfor energy. Real wages are up 4.
3 percen from a year ago and on an annualized basisz are up 8 percent over the last nine months as energy prices have given a big boosg to consumerpurchasing power, the index said.