US Luxury Spending Falls 6% for Third Straight Month

US credit card spending on luxury goods fell 6% year over year in September, the third straight monthly decline after 4% drops in July and August, according to Citi data drawn from millions of transactions. Leather goods and ready-to-wear spending improved sequentially in September, while watches and luxury jewellery continued to deteriorate. Citi said brands catering to wealthier shoppers may prove more resilient due to equity-market wealth gains. The Conference Board consumer confidence index fell 6.7 points to 81.9 in September from 88.6 in August. The share of consumers saying jobs were plentiful fell to 23.6% from 24.5%, and the share saying jobs were hard to get rose to 21.9% from 20.3%. US midterm elections are November 3. First Post framed the spending slide as a consumer signal ahead of those elections; Independent Journal Review reported the decline without that election frame. No contested claims in the record. The record shows no dispute over the spending or survey figures.