A top US Federal Reserve official has said price cuts at big retailers and weaker sales suggest that a slowdown in consumer spending has “finally” begun, increasing the chances that the central bank will lower interest rates this year.
Adriana Kugler, a Fed governor, said retailers were being forced to lower prices to hang on to cost-conscious consumers, a trend that made her more optimistic that inflation was on course to hit the Fed’s 2 per cent goal.
A report released on Tuesday showing retail sales in May rose by just 0.1 per cent “may be another signal that the long-expected deceleration in consumer spending may finally be upon us”, Kugler said at an event at the Peterson Institute think-tank in Washington on Tuesday.
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