In the first quarter of this year, the U.S. economy was hit by high inflation, supply-chain disruptions and the COVID-19 omicron variant. Despite those headwinds, consumer spending increased for many goods and services.
Consumers’ resilience was highlighted in the quarterly financial results released in the past few weeks by some of Connecticut’s largest companies. Encouraged by those numbers, executives at those firms expect to see rising demand during the remainder of the year.
“The consumer, on the back side of the pandemic, is looking to engage. They’re going to look to travel, socialize and get out of their homes,” Brian Wenzel, chief financial officer of Stamford-based Synchrony, the country’s largest provider of private-label and store-brand credit cards, said in an interview. “Consumers want to get back to life as normal.”
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