New retail data: Luxury shoppers pull back in June

NEW YORK (AP) - July 8, 2010 -- New data show affluent Americans tightened their belts in June in a possible indication of trouble for the overall economy.

MasterCard Advisor's SpendingPulse reported late Wednesday that luxury spending dropped 3.9 percent in June from a year earlier, the first decline since November. Other figures from SpendingPulse, which tracks all transactions including cash, were mixed, though online spending remained a bright spot.

The well-heeled - households with annual incomes in the top 20 percent, about $158,000 on average - account for almost 40 percent of overall consumer spending.

So indications that they are pulling back are particularly worrisome.

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retail sales, business/finance

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