Deloitte reports rise in spending index for February

NEW YORK — The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index rose to more than 4% during the month of February, thanks to slight improvements in two sectors.

The index attempts to track consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending and is comprised of four components: unemployment claims, tax burden, real wages and real home prices. It rose to 4.02% from 3.92% in January.

Alison Paul, vice chairman and retail sector leader for Deloitte, said that looking ahead, retailers unsurprisingly are concerned about rising costs. “Retailers should consider costs across the entire supply chain, from strategic sourcing at the back end to the technologies and analysis they use for monitoring inventories and product movement at the front end,” Paul suggested.