Retail Sales Stall as Paycheck-to-Paycheck Pressure Builds

Slowing job growth and cooling wages suggest holiday spending resilience may be tested into early 2026.Two-thirds of U.S. consumers still live paycheck to paycheck, increasingly out of necessity rather than choice.Retail sales were flat in October as paycheck-to-paycheck households pulled back on discretionary categories.After weeks of delay, a fresh wave of government data is finally offering a clearer snapshot of how consumers and workers in the United States have weathered months of tariff uncertainty, h ...