consumers feel the pinch

--fresh bad news from American Express (affluent customer), Capital One joined the list of negative same store sales from Macys, Gap, J.C. Penny, and even Tiffany whose sales growth declined to 8%. --consumers feel the pinch because of --banks tighten lending standards: consumers are less willing to borrow to spend. --inflation is squeezing consumer power: the price of energy and food is up a lot. Furthermore, higher inflation from overease translated into higher import prices. --consumer sentiment is week: economy is heading for recession, housing cusion is gone, unemployement rate is 5%. consumer hold back spending