The consumer scaled back spending in October, but that won’t prevent the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates in December. That’s the assessment from JPMorgan Asset Management’s global markets strategist David Lebovitz. Retail sales rose 0.1 percent in October, missing estimates of 0.3 percent. Lebovitz said the slowdown is attributed to consumers gearing up for the busy holiday shopping season, which officially begins at the end of this month. Lebovitz still thinks the Fed will move interest rates off of crisis-era levels when it holds its next two-day policy meeting in December. Though he said plenty could happen over the next month that could derail that forecast, including a disappointing November jobs report, which will be released in early December. TheStreet’s Scott Gamm has details from New York.
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