Affluent Americans are driving US economy and likely delaying need for Fed rate cuts

Older Americans are fueling a sustained boost to the U.S. economy. Benefiting from outsize gains in the stock and housing markets over the past several years, they are accounting for a larger share of consumer spending — the principal driver of economic growth — than ever before. And much of their spending is going toward higher-priced services like travel, health care and entertainment, thereby putting further upward pressure on those prices — and on inflation. Such spending is relatively immune to the Federal Reserve’s push to slow growth and tame inflation through higher borrowing rates, because it rarely requires borrowing.