Richard Tafoya
May 14th, 2007, 12:07 AM
AP:
http://www.charlotte.com/122/story/119125.html
Consumers, battered by surging gasoline prices, cut back spending for clothes, cars and other items in April, raising worries about the already weak economy.
Retail sales fell 0.2 percent in April, the first decline in seven months, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said that wholesale prices surged by 0.7 percent, led by a third consecutive big rise in gasoline prices.
The weak retail spending and the big rise in gasoline prices were seen as delivering a double whammy to the economy. The worry is that if gasoline prices spike further and the troubles in housing deepen, then consumer spending could be cut back further and the country could move toward a recession.
In Washington, a city with some of the longest commuting times in the country, consumers were definitely feeling the pinch of the higher gasoline prices.
"It's highway robbery," said Andi Powell, 33. She said she and her boyfriend are spending about $90 per week in gas for their commute to Washington from Baltimore. "I just started to do a lot more home entertaining, just trying to find ways to make up the difference" in the higher gas costs.
Zenobia Jackson, 32, of College Park, Md., said she is spending $60 to $80 per week for gas to drive to her computer job in Virginia. "There's not much I can do," she said.
Growth in the overall economy slowed to a lackluster 1.3 percent rate in the first three months of this year, the slowest pace in four years. Analysts were looking for that figure to be revised even lower based on a string of weaker-than-expected economic reports, raising the odds that some unexpected jolt could turn weak growth into an outright downturn.
http://www.charlotte.com/122/story/119125.html
Consumers, battered by surging gasoline prices, cut back spending for clothes, cars and other items in April, raising worries about the already weak economy.
Retail sales fell 0.2 percent in April, the first decline in seven months, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said that wholesale prices surged by 0.7 percent, led by a third consecutive big rise in gasoline prices.
The weak retail spending and the big rise in gasoline prices were seen as delivering a double whammy to the economy. The worry is that if gasoline prices spike further and the troubles in housing deepen, then consumer spending could be cut back further and the country could move toward a recession.
In Washington, a city with some of the longest commuting times in the country, consumers were definitely feeling the pinch of the higher gasoline prices.
"It's highway robbery," said Andi Powell, 33. She said she and her boyfriend are spending about $90 per week in gas for their commute to Washington from Baltimore. "I just started to do a lot more home entertaining, just trying to find ways to make up the difference" in the higher gas costs.
Zenobia Jackson, 32, of College Park, Md., said she is spending $60 to $80 per week for gas to drive to her computer job in Virginia. "There's not much I can do," she said.
Growth in the overall economy slowed to a lackluster 1.3 percent rate in the first three months of this year, the slowest pace in four years. Analysts were looking for that figure to be revised even lower based on a string of weaker-than-expected economic reports, raising the odds that some unexpected jolt could turn weak growth into an outright downturn.