JPMorgan: Something Has Gone Wrong With the Global Consumer

What to make of a global slowdown in retail sales

These people are shopping but many others are not.

Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
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"It would be difficult to overstate the recent downside surprise in global consumer spending," writes JPMorgan Senior Global Economist Joseph Lupton.

Though retail sales in the U.S. have missed expectations for five consecutive months, disappointing consumer spending is far from just a made-in-the-USA story, he observes.