mpc.theyserveforyou.com

mpc: 17 The slowdown in consumer spending growth might prove temporary. For example, retail sales in February might have been affected by the cold weather. Household spending should be underpinned by recent steady growth in earnings and rising employment and equity prices. Some pickup in consumption growth in the first quarter still seemed likely. A more persistent slowdown in consumption growth would be likely to imply a rise in the household saving rate. Possible explanations for higher saving included a greater-than-expected effect of slowing house price inflation on consumer spending, a concern about the adequacy of savings for retirement or a response to higher official interest rates, which might have had a bigger impact than expected on highly indebted households in particular. But there was little clear evidence to support any of these hypotheses at this stage.