Discover U.S. Spending Monitor Shows Little Movement in April

Confronted with record high gasoline prices and the effects of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, consumers continue to have little confidence in the U.S. economy. In the meantime, the number of consumers who say they are spending more, particularly on household expenses, rose for the third straight month to 38 percent.

Even with a large majority of consumers expecting a tax refund and a tax rebate from the federal government’s economic stimulus package, the expected additional money appeared to do little to ease consumers’ concern over their personal finances or the economy.

“Many consumers continue to trim family vacations, a night on the town and even their savings to offset higher household expenses,” said Margo Georgiadis, executive vice-president and chief marketing officer for Discover Financial Services. “With no relief in sight, consumers seem at the ready to deploy whatever windfalls they may experience – like tax refunds – to help balance their budgets.”

“We’re learning just how adaptable consumers are when it comes to dealing with a slow economy and rising expense pressures,” said Georgiadis. “With rising household expenses, lower and middle income consumers are continuing to feel the pressure and continuing to cut back their spending. But there are some positive indicators in the Monitor showing that upper income consumers may be increasing their discretionary spending and may feel the economy may be on the mend.”

For more Discover U.S. Spending Monitor survey data and information, please visit http://www.discoverfinancial.com/surveys/spending.shtml.