This week will bring earnings reports from several companies that have a global reach, including General Motors, Colgate-Palmolive and packaged goods provider Kimberly-Clark, the report said. Although consumer spending has largely held up, shoppers, especially in the low- and middle-income brackets, have been careful about where they spend.
“While some are less price-sensitive than others, most consumers are still mad about the level of current prices and won’t take kindly to further hikes,” said Annex Wealth Management Chief Economic Strategist Brian Jacobsen, per the report.
This earnings season, “bellwether” companies such as 3M and Procter & Gamble have pointed to challenges, according to the report. Procter & Gamble has increased prices on some products in the United States by 2% to 2.5% to lessen the impact of tariffs and tepid sales. The company last week reported a fifth consecutive quarterly decline in margins.
Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last week that his company is seeing the impact of tariffs in the prices set by some of its sellers.
Tariffs were also on the minds of consumers as 2025 ticked over to 2026, PYMNTS Intelligence found.
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“Rather than viewing tariffs as abstract geopolitical tools, many households appear to be weighing their potential effects in personal terms,” PYMNTS reported Tuesday (Jan. 20).
Concerns about tariffs are not confined to any one segment of the paycheck-to-paycheck population, which covers about two-thirds of Americans.
“Instead, anxiety about tariffs is broadly shared, reflecting how exposed household finances remain after inflation (which is still rising, though at a moderating pace), uneven wage growth and persistent cost pressures,” the report said.
More than 80% of households that run paycheck to paycheck by necessity expect tariffs to be completely negative. For consumers living paycheck to paycheck by choice, nearly 75% share that view.
“Even when isolating the most pessimistic responses, the pattern holds,” PYMNTS reported. “And at a high level, at least 40% of consumers in every paycheck-to-paycheck group expect tariffs to have a mostly or completely negative effect on their personal and household finances. Those living paycheck to paycheck out of necessity are modestly more likely than their choice-based counterparts to see tariffs as entirely harmful.”
