Deloitte: Consumer spending still down - Portland Business Journal:

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The index fell to 1.35 percentf from an downwardly revised gainof 1.44 percenf in April. Deloitte said the indexd analyzestax burden, initial unemployment claims, real wages and real home prices to try to tracm consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumeer spending. "The year over year pace of declin in real consumer spending appears tohave however, recovery is being delayes by a sharp increase in consumer savings, which has risen to 5.7 percent from zero a year said Carl Steidtmann, chief economist with Deloittse Research and author of the monthl y index, in a statement.
"However, the weakness in the indez was driven almost entirel y by fallinghome prices, which are down nearly 14 percentr over the past undermining small gains in real a declining tax burdenm and current stabilization in new unemployment claims." The reportr noted the tax burden continuess to drop with the weakening of the economy. It is at a leveo only seen on a few occasionxs over the past 50 years during brief periods following tax Continued declineis expected. Also real wage growth continues to post smalp gains due to falling price sfor energy. Real wages are up 4.
3 percenf from a year ago and on an annualized basisx are up 8 percent over the last nine monthzs as energy prices have givejn a big boost to consumetpurchasing power, the index said.