USA

The US economy is expected to decline sharply in 2020. The fallout related to the economic and social measures in place to contain the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak will be disastrous for the US. Both business and consumer confidence have declined ...

When COVID-19 hit the US in earnest in March 2020, much of the country locked down. Non-essential businesses were shuttered as citizens were encouraged to stay home. The resulting economic fallout has been swift and brutal, with unemployment reaching...

COVID-19 has rocked the US economy, forcing non-essential businesses to close as consumers stay home, leading to an unprecedented spike in unemployment. In March 2020, as the pandemic took hold, Congress passed the CARES Act, which enhanced ...

In July 2020, the US hit 15 consecutive weeks of more than one million new jobless claims. The spike in unemployment has left many US cardholders unable to make their card payments, and issuers have stepped in to offer temporary relief. Capital One ...

The CARES Act authorised one-time payments of USD1,200 to most adults in the US and USD500 per child. Most Americans received these payments through direct deposit, but nearly four million received their payment as pre-paid debit cards. The Treasury ...

Charge cards have a fundamental trade-off: consumers agree to give up payment flexibility in return for not having a fixed credit limit. In normal times, cardholders’ confidence in their ability to fully pay off their card each month allows them to ...

COVID-19 forced states across the US to declare stay-at-home orders and close non-essential businesses, starting in late March 2020. These closures led to mass layoffs. The unemployment rate in April 2020 hit 14.7%, the highest rate since the Great ...

Uncertain about COVID-19’s economic impact, American consumers significantly increased their usage of debit payments from March 2020. These payments came at the expense of credit payments, which have fallen significantly during the same period. As ...

Store cards have struggled in recent years due to the popularity of credit cards that are co-branded or offer other rewards. Many of these cards enticed users with lucrative sign-up bonuses and travel benefits. The onset of COVID-19 has made these ...

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered the most severe global recession in nearly a century. Businesses are operating in a world of anxieties and uncertainties, not knowing what will be the new normal or when output and consumer spending ...

The USA is forecast to remain the world’s biggest consumer market through to 2040. However, private consumption is set to slack off, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising global uncertainty. The pandemic triggered unprecedented supply and demand ...

When the Food and Drug Administration recalled all ranitidine products in early 2020 over the possible carcinogen NDMA, Zantac, the leading H2 blocker, was effectively taken off the market. Although the official recall was in April, many ...

COVID-19 has brought significant changes to consumer health in the US as consumer priorities and routines have shifted more towards preventive health and wellness. While the first two months of 2020 saw minimal changes in behaviour, the sudden shift ...

When the Centers for Disease Control first released a list of COVID-19 symptoms, some of them, such as coughing, coincided with typical allergy symptoms. With the rise of COVID-19 overlapping with spring allergy season, many Americans were hyperaware...

After recording healthy current value growth in 2019, largely driven by a strong performance by meal replacement products, weight management and wellbeing has been experiencing a challenging year in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a whole, ...

As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, dietary supplements, particularly those orientated towards immunity, have been enjoying significant demand among consumers. The age-old preventive health measure of dietary supplement usage has emerged as a ...

Amidst the uncertainty pertaining to the economy and the job market, 2020 proved to be another strong year for sleep aids, with solid double-digit percentage growth. Stress causing insomnia and sleep deprivation remains a key issue for many ...

In an unprecedented year thus far in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has created heightened concerns among consumers about self-care and preventive health. Consumers have therefore increasingly been demanding vitamins and dietary supplements orientated ...

Although the fear of compromising lung health was widespread during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in the US, there was little distinguishable impact on the NRT smoking cessation aids products. Studies have shown that there is no concrete ...

As states across the US imposed shelter-in-place orders, Americans scrambled to stock up on household necessities that might have previously been neglected. With first aid kits a staple in any disaster preparedness list, the category saw substantial ...