Read the highlights of this week’s commentary from Helios:
Consumer sentiment unexpectedly jumped in April to a three-month high, according to the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index. Attitudes toward the future jumped by the most since 2006, supported by higher wages and expecting longer-term price increases to fall from their elevated levels.
Retail sales in March rose 0.5%, roughly in line with expectations, though surging gas prices masked falling sales in vehicles and in e-commerce, which are two of the largest spending categories in the report. Despite average US gas prices slowly coming down from their recent peak in mid-March, surging energy prices and increasing prices elsewhere in the economy may be taking a bite out of consumers’ appetite to continue spending on goods and services.
Elon Musk launched a takeover bid for Twitter, shortly after declining to take a seat on their board and after announcing he had taken a more than 9% stake in the company.
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