Concerns over the economy drove down consumers' spending last month, according to Discover Financial Services.
The Riverwoods, Ill., credit card company's monthly Spending Monitor index fell to a record low of 79.7 in November as 64% of the respondents said the U.S. economy was in poor condition, a record high and a 30-point jump from a year earlier. The index was pegged at 100 when it was introduced in 2006.
Discretionary spending is also down sharply from last year, with 52% of people planning to spend less this month on entertainment such as movies or restaurant meals and 50% expecting to spend less on major purchases such as travel.
Both these results are up seven points from a year earlier. Discover said consumers are also curtailing holiday spending; 63% planned to spend less than last year, compared to 52% who said the same a year earlier.
"It is worth noting that virtually every demographic segment covered by the monitor is feeling the impact of the crisis in the country's financial affairs," Margo Georgiadis, a Discover executive vice president and its chief marketing officer, said in a press release. "Americans at every income level and age, married or not, with kids or not, appear to be unified in their view of the economy: It's poor."
