April 10, 2020 5:55AM ET

Here’s How Long Coronavirus Could Crush Consumer Spending

Fitch Ratings experts expect consumer spending to remain down in 2020, meaning retail's coronavirus recovery might come late into 2021. — A recovery in the retail sector may not occur until late 2021 going into early 2022.

CREDIT: Shutterstock

Consumer discretionary spending isn’t expected to recover anytime soon, maybe not even in 2020, and that’s bad news for the retail sector. Fitch Ratings managing director Monica Aggarwal confirmed this notion Thursday, describing “an increased likelihood of a downturn in discretionary spending into 2021” during an S&P webinar on U.S. department stores. Last week, the credit…

This content is for Annual and Limited members only. You can read up to five free articles each month with a Limited Level Subscription. Please log in, or subscribe.

Log In Subscribe