U.S. companies say consumer still strong even as broader outlook dims

NEW YORK - Walmart became the latest company to point to a strong U.S. consumer, adding to a raft of firms in recent weeks citing healthy demand at a time when spending is seen as an increasingly key support for the economy.

Reports of strong demand from companies are a welcome sign to some in the market amid weakening manufacturing activity and a slump in business investment. Lower interest rates, which mean reduced borrowing costs, are giving people more money to spend, and that’s likely to be the case for the first half of next year as well, she said.

Homebuilder Lennar Corp, MasterCard and Tapestry were among companies alluding to healthy consumer spending during the current reporting period. Also, analysts have been cutting earnings forecasts for the fourth quarter and 2020, while third-quarter earnings for S&P 500 are on track to fall slightly from a year ago, which would be the first quarterly profit decline for the group since 2016, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

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