Consumer spending has been steadily rising as oil prices declined. Spending rose 4.3% over the fourth quarter, the fastest since the first quarter of 2006, and accelerated from the third quarter’s 3.2% rate, Reuters reported.
“The level of consumer sentiment supports our view that consumer spending will kick the year off on a robust foot after the drop in energy prices left consumers’ wallets full,” Bricklin Dwyer, an economist at BNP Paribas, said in the Reuters article.
Market Vectors Retail ETF
For more information on the consumer sector, visit our consumer discretionary category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.