Resilient consumer buoys US economy

By Louise Keeling, director US equities at Insight Investment Despite the collapse of corporate demand, the consumer kept spending. The first buds of stronger economic growth were breaking through in the summer of 2001 when the events of 11 September caused corporate America to reduce spending budgets as they faced an uncertain world. This retrenchment of capital expenditure multiplied around the economy and retarded any recovery in demand. Once again, the consumer remained resilient throughout this time. In retrospect, this should not have been so surprising. Rarely has th...