美联储褐皮书泄露真相：美国消费撑不住了？

Group 1 - The latest Beige Book reveals a stark divide in the U.S. consumer market, with high-income groups maintaining luxury spending while middle and low-income families struggle [1] - Retail sales are declining in 9 out of 12 Federal Reserve districts, with Cleveland auto dealers expecting a 12% drop in sales and Seattle clothing retailers seeing a 19% decrease in foot traffic [1] - High-income consumers are increasing spending on luxury travel and private healthcare by 8%, while middle and low-income households are shifting to warehouse stores like Costco, with grocery spending reaching a historical high of 34% [1] Group 2 - Credit card delinquency rates have risen to 3.2%, and the percentage of auto loans overdue by more than 30 days has reached 4.7%, the highest since 2010 [3] - The trade policies from the Trump administration have led to a "cost-price-demand" vicious cycle, with Starbucks facing a 12% profit margin squeeze due to increased coffee bean tariffs [4] - Detroit automakers are incurring an additional $1.8 billion in costs due to steel tariffs, leading to layoffs of 23,000 workers and extended new car delivery times to 8 months [4] Group 3 - The labor market appears stable with a 5.2% unemployment rate, but there is a deterioration in job quality, with a loss of 136,000 full-time jobs and an increase of 98,000 part-time jobs [5] - There is a significant skills mismatch, with a shortage of 120,000 manufacturing robot operators and a traditional mechanic unemployment rate of 7.3% [5] - Labor shortages in the construction industry have led to a 41% project delay rate, negatively impacting GDP growth by 0.7 percentage points [6] Group 4 - The Federal Reserve faces a challenging decision regarding interest rate cuts, with a 97.3% market expectation for a cut in October, while core CPI remains stubbornly at 3.1% [7] - The Fed's balance sheet reduction plan has been paused, and the overnight reverse repo scale has shrunk to $20 billion, indicating limited traditional monetary policy tools [7] - Political pressures may lead to the implementation of "modern monetary theory" to stimulate the economy through deficit monetization ahead of the 2026 midterm elections [7] Group 5 - Three major risk thresholds are indicated for 2026: a potential drop in savings rates for low-income households below 3%, a $1.2 trillion corporate debt maturity wave, and the lagging effects of current monetary policy adjustments [8] - If low-income household savings fall below 3% (currently at 4.1%), it could trigger a significant credit contraction, reducing GDP growth by 1.5 percentage points [8] - The widening spread of high-yield bond yields to 580 basis points indicates increasing default risks as $1.2 trillion in corporate debt matures in 2026 [8] Group 6 - The report highlights a "silent crisis" in the economy, with signs of contraction in various sectors, including a 30% budget cut in exploration by shale oil companies and hiring freezes in Silicon Valley tech firms [10] - The Beige Book reveals that the underlying growth paradigm is under threat, as noted by the San Francisco Fed President, who remarked on the economic machinery beginning to rust [10]