Consumers strained by price surge last year
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Shoppers faced moderate price rises in December but that capped a year in which prices soared at the sharpest rate in 17 years, pressuring households also dealing with a steep housing downturn and tighter credit.
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For years, cheap food and feed were taken for granted in the United States. Now the price of some foods is rising sharply, and a blame alert is under way.
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By Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  Sep. 25--American consumers are being hit with a double dose of bad economic news: anemic wage growth and a sluggish housing market.
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Prices spiked 4.1 percent last year, the highest increase in 17 years.
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Surging energy costs drove U.S.  consumer prices up a hefty and larger-than-expected 0.6 percent  last month, the biggest jump since May, while housing starts  showed the most strength since December, government reports  showed on Wednesday.
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Consumers continued to curtail their spending last month as rising gasoline prices dampened purchases of other goods, a fresh indication of a cooling economy.
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Rising energy prices and slow job growth make buyers cautious as the nation heads into the holiday season.
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Business & money: Bargain-chasing shoppers force stores into heavy price discounting after slowest Christmas sales growth in three years
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Consumers are feeling the pinch after five interest rate rises in less than a year, with a slowdown in the rampant housing market, ebbing consumer morale and a drop in retail sales, data show.
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Consumers pay the price for high merchant fees.
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WASHINGTON -- Consumers put away their wallets in June, sending retail sales crashing by the sharpest amount in nearly two years.
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Prices of necessities are up sharply over the past year, meaning that those items consume more and more of the household budget, leaving less for other things.
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Consumers battered by a multitude of economic woes came roaring back in November, pushing retail sales up by the largest amount in four months.
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They spent years drawing consumers into stores with highly publicized sales and markdowns. Now retailers and their vendors are struggling to convert sale shoppers to full-price buyers.
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Costs have increased steadily in recent years, causing some to wonder about quality.
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Consumer prices jumped a bigger-than-expected 0.8 percent in November, the sharpest climb in more than two years and driven by surging energy costs, a government report released on Friday showed.
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Widespread German price increases, including those of butter and electricity, are starting to weigh heavily on consumer confidence, a monthly poll by the GfK institute showed Friday.