Economy Grows, Consumers Unimpressed

MV Financial 1.04K Follower s Follow 5 Share Save Play ( 6min ) Comments (3) Summary In Q1 2025, the disconnect between "hard" and "soft" economic data was reflected as negative sentiments expressed in the "soft" surveys while the "hard" macro numbers seemed to validate an economy that was still performing relatively well. That disconnect trend is alive and well as 2025 draws to a close. On Wednesday morning, we received the report on Q3 GDP. For anyone hoping for a good growth story to see out the year, this report delivered it. But the Consumer Confidence Index weakened for a fifth consecutive month and remains well below its peak at the beginning of the year. The upper slant of the K-shaped economy represents the increasing prosperity of wealthy Americans, while the lower slant signifies the mounting struggles of their worse-off counterparts to keep up with higher prices, stagnant wages and fewer opportunities for moving up. Galeanu Mihai/iStock via Getty Images Sometime earlier this year, we wrote about the disconnect between so-called “hard” and “soft” economic data. Hard data points include the headline numbers of inflation, unemployment and GDP growth, while the concept of soft data refers to surveys about how different cohorts This article was written by MV Financial 1.04K Follower s Follow MV Financial is a Washington DC-area asset manager offering investment advisory services through MV Capital Management, a Registered Investment Advisor. We specialize in deep research across a wide range of asset classes and investment vehicles, with the goal of transforming knowledge into actionable investment solutions for our individual, family and institutional clientele.

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