☰ Sections Got a tip? Search

Cranberry Journal

Friday, October 30, 2026

Also in this edition
Markets
  • S&P 5007,575.96−1.87%
  • Nasdaq25,386.37−3.05%
  • Dow51,863.29−0.92%
  • 10-yr yield4.95%−0.74%
  • Crude$104.48+2.43%
At the close · Oct 30

Consumer Spending

Tagged stories

The cream-coloured frontage of a Cheesecake Factory restaurant with red lettering and white awnings, behind palm trees, hedges and a flowering bougainvillea, below a white apartment building.
Business

The Cheesecake Factory Served 9.5 Per Cent More Guests Last Quarter. At Chipotle, Transactions Rose 0.8 Per Cent.

Comparable sales at The Cheesecake Factory's namesake restaurants rose 15.2 per cent in the third quarter, with traffic up 9.5 per cent, the company said on 27 October. A day later Chipotle reported comparable sales up 2.1 per cent, with transactions up 0.8 per cent. Cheesecake Factory's management says it is too early to tell how lasting its new, younger guests will be.

By Margaret Holloway  

The entrance to an American Express Centurion Lounge, with open navy-blue double doors beside a pale mosaic wall bearing the company's centurion-head emblem and the words The Centurion.
Business

American Express Raised Its Forecast After Earning $5.42 a Share. Its Cards Now Carry an Average Fee of $136 a Year, 14 Per Cent More Than a Year Ago.

American Express said on 23 October that third-quarter revenue rose 9 per cent to $20.1 billion and earnings per share rose 31 per cent to $5.42, or 13 per cent to $4.68 excluding a travel-stake gain and a restructuring charge. It raised its full-year earnings forecast to $18.30 to $18.60 a share. Net card fees rose 16 per cent, faster than spending.

By Daniel Okafor  

Two black-and-tan Dobermans lie side by side in a down-stay on a hillside road, wearing training collars, with rocky hills behind them.
Business

The Richest Fifth of U.S. Households Spends $1,861 a Year on Its Pets. Cinnante Canine Is Building a Business Around Them.

Americans spent $158 billion on pets in 2025, according to the American Pet Products Association, and services were the fastest-growing category. Cinnante Canine, a Los Angeles-area training company led by Joseph Cinnante, who has trained and supplied dogs for military and police K9 units, is building its business around owners at the top of that market, from founder-led board-and-train programs to full-service care for very high-net-worth clients.

By Margaret Holloway  

A largely empty shopping mall corridor lined with storefronts, in black and white.
Money

Retail Sales Rose 0.8 Per Cent in September and Are Up 6.3 Per Cent in a Year. Leave Out Cars and Gasoline and the Gain Was 0.2 Per Cent.

The Census Bureau said on Thursday 15 October that U.S. retail and food services sales were $745.0 billion in September, up 0.8 per cent from August and 6.3 per cent from a year earlier. Once autos and gasoline stations are removed, the gain was 0.2 per cent, a figure the bureau flags as statistically indistinguishable from zero. August was revised up to 1.3 per cent.

By Daniel Okafor  

A white sign reading HELP WANTED in black capitals hangs by suction cups inside a shop's glass door, with blurred reflections of the street and people behind it.
The Long View

Hiring Has Been Stuck for 30 Months. In August, Americans Spent as if It Wasn't.

The hires rate has sat between 3.1 and 3.5 per cent every month since March 2024, a pace last seen outside the pandemic in 2013. Quits are at 1.9 per cent. Yet real consumer spending rose 0.6 per cent in August while real disposable income did not grow, and the saving rate fell to 4.1 per cent. This week's data describe a labour market that has stopped moving and households that have kept spending anyway.

By Daniel Okafor