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Benzinga
  • 5 minutes ago
The U.S. economy is splitting into an "E-shaped" pattern with top earners driving 60% of spending while middle-income households shift to discount retailers and lower-income consumers increasingly rely on BNPL for groceries. Consumer sentiment fell nearly 13% YoY in February despite inflation easing to ~3%.
Transcript
00:00It's Benzinga bringing Wall Street to Main Street.
00:02Economists say the U.S. economy now resembles an E-shaped pattern with three tiers of consumer
00:08behavior, according to CNBC. Inflation has eased from a 9% peak in June 2022 to around 3%,
00:14while personal consumption expenditures measured 2.9% in December 2025. Prices remain far above
00:222020 levels, and wages have plateaued after adjusting for inflation. According to the
00:27nonpartisan economic research group, the Hamilton Project, consumer sentiment fell nearly 13%
00:33year-over-year in February. Moody's analytics found that the top 20% of earners' account for nearly
00:3960% of U.S. consumer spending. Middle-income households are shifting toward discount
00:44retailers and bulk buying-to-manage costs. Lower-income households show rising reliance
00:49on credit cards and, by now, pay-later plans, including using installment loans for groceries.
00:54For all things money, visit Benzinga.com.
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