Consumer

Consumer

Luxury Brands Sweat Consumer Discounting After Price Hikes

Photo by Mathias Reding via Unsplash

Brands that cater to the uber wealthy saw a dip in sales for the first quarter of 2025, continuing a slowdown that started last year.

2 min read

Photo by Federal Reserve Board of Governors via Public Domain Mark 1.0

Economics

Waiting Game: Why Fed Isn’t Ready to Cut Rates (Yet)

The Fed was already walking a tightrope over a bottomless pit of stagflation before waves of tariffs came to rattle the line.

2 min read
Photo by Oleg Ivanov via Unsplash

Economics

Consumer Confidence Rebounds as Tariff Tensions (Temporarily) Ease

You can’t bounce back without first getting low. And, in April, consumer confidence according to the Conference Board got real low.

2 min read
Photo by Jason Miraples via Unsplash

Consumer

Economic Anxiety Leaves McDonald’s Digesting Biggest Sales Drop in Five Years

Fast-food chain McDonald’s, an economic indicator because of its mammoth global presence, posted its worst earnings report since 2020.

2 min read

International Economics

Retailers Prep for Supply Chain Breakdown

Photo by Mick Haupt via Unsplash

To prepare for a slowdown of global trade, US retailers spent months building a massive inventory to prevent empty shelves.

2 min read

Photo by Rio Space via Unsplash

Banking

Consumer Spending Buoyant in Run-up to Tariffs, Big Banks Say

Banks pocketed huge sums in the first quarter from equities because the “increased market volatility” triggered a rush on transactions.

2 min read
Photo by Getty Images via Unsplash

Inflation & Prices

Just in Time for Tariffs, Consumer Prices Finally Drop

That’s right: CPI fell 0.1% in March, according to the US Labor Department, marking the first month-over-month decline since May 2020.

2 min read
Photo illustration by Connor Lin / The Daily Upside, Photos by Photka and Koosen via iStock

Analysis

Boy, Oh Boycott: Can Canada’s ‘Buy Canadian’ Movement Actually Dent the US?

7 min read

Consumer

Brazil’s ‘Egg King’ Buys Hillandale Farms

Photo by Morgane Perraud via Unsplash

The $1.1 billion acquisition comes just as egg prices are ever so slightly starting to trend down in the US.

2 min read

Photo illustration by Connor Lin / The Daily Upside, Photos by Gearstd and Cyano66 via iStock

Artificial Intelligence

Tech Giants Are Betting Billions on AI Smartphones. But Consumers Aren’t Sold

Big Tech is hoping AI-powered smartphones will be the first of many great returns on its eye-popping AI investments.

4 min read
Photo by AlphaTradeZone via Pexels

Economics

Just How Certain is a Recession, Anyway?

Policy uncertainty, particularly around how tariffs will ripple through the economy, continued to stoke recession fears last week.

2 min read
Photo by Jack Sparrow via Pexels

Inflation & Prices

Inflation Cooled in February. Now Come Tariffs.

The good news: Inflation may be calming down. The bad news: Likely-inflationary tariffs are just starting to hit now.

2 min read

Consumer

Whipsawing Trade Policy Sows Uncertainty in Big Box Retail

Photo by Marcus Reubenstein via Unsplash

A slew of retail company earnings reports last week raised the spectre of sapped spending as executives discussed tariffs.

2 min read

Sign Up for The Daily Upside to Unlock This Article

Sharp news & analysis on finance, economics, and investing.