NEWS

America is getting ready for its post-pandemic glow-up.

Peak sweatpant has passed and high heels are hot again, in the ultimate symbol of an economy ready to let loose. Americans are booking beauty services, buying going-out clothes again, and readying for a “hot vax summer” as they emerge from lockdown looking and feeling different than they entered, helping the economy roar back to life in the process.

It’s the result of vaccination rates revving up, big cities reopening, and Americans sitting on a ton of cash. Between three stimulus checks and the decline in discretionary spending that accompanied a pandemic shutdown, Americans were holding $2.6 trillion in excess savings as of mid-April, per Moody’s Analytics.

And that’s why so many economists are predicting that a lockdown lift will see the biggest boomtime in a generation, potentially ushering in a new era in the US economy. Moody’s Analytics expects the US economy to grow 6.4% in 2021 after shrinking 3.5% in 2020.  But to power such an economic transformation, Americans need to keep spending. 

Read full article.