PYMNTS

After taking an early look at the latest PYMNTS Intelligence Paycheck to Paycheck data last Friday, I was compelled to break the news before the official report release. Bottom line. Americans are worried, and signaled their concerns even in the weeks before Liberation Day and the hefty sales tax that its tariffs will impose on every consumer and every business in the world in some way.    A national study of 2,820 consumers conducted between March 12 and March 31 finds that then, nearly 80% of consumers were already pulling back by buying less or buying cheaper. Back of the envelope math suggests that could dent the US economy by $92B every year assuming just a 2% pullback. If prices increase by 10%, 18% of consumers say they will simply stop buying, increasing that even more. We’ll let you know what they say now that the reality is even worse then they imagined just a couple of weeks ago.    Then, there’s the business uncertainty, which we captured by studying heads of product and CFOs of middle market companies. A third of those companies are facing supply chain disruption, higher prices, missed opportunities and hits to sales and margins. More than half of consumer and industrial goods companies say the same.    This week I was also compelled to try to find an analogy that might help to explain the chaos that the markets – and all of us by default - are experiencing. In that I found the good old fashioned game of pinball. I’ll let you read the piece to connect those dots, or pull the levers, as the case may be.    Would love to know what you think. And what you are seeing and hearing from friends, family and business colleagues.    Thanks for reading. And thanks to Mariah Warner, PhD, Scott Murray, Yvonni Markaki and the PYMNTS Intelligence team for their insightful analysis.

Someone offered a sound piece of advice today – turn off the news for a while and read a book. Or while you’re here, my recap of the interesting conversations that I had this week with so many innovators and thought provocateurs.    And if you are looking for a good book recommendation, try The Restless Wave, a novel about the US Navy written by Admiral James Stavridis, who, among other noted accomplishments, served as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO.    Thank you for reading and have a great weekend!   ►   Digital data deficit. Ingo Payments CEO Drew Edwards tells me why getting rid of the paper check won’t be a “government-built solution” and probably not a 6-month project. https://lnkd.in/enTMPyDr   ►  “Just because” or busted washing machine? This PYMNTS Intelligence report digs into the similarities and differences of how consumers pay for (and finance) those impulse “wants,” and emergency “needs:” https://lnkd.in/g8VNZ8y2   ►   Retailers stock up on GenAI. Fresh data on why there’s a gap between aspiration and execution, as many retailers lack confidence in their data capabilities: https://lnkd.in/gMByf-9m   ►  It takes a network. Ani Sane says that’s how you solve the digital wallet use across borders interoperability conundrum: https://lnkd.in/eyCNhdam   ►  CU-niversity. Velera’s Chuck Fagan tells me why credit unions have "a prime-time opportunity to provide financial education — including budgeting tools,” as uncertainty continues to reign: https://lnkd.in/gPmtTKF7   ►  Consolidation amid fragmentation. That was the theme of my conversation with Nandan Sheth on what’s next for banks and the role they play in Pay Later at checkout: https://lnkd.in/eBqbhyxz   ►   AI Agents are coming for bankers. i2c Inc. CEO Amir Wain outlines some of the critical infrastructure elements needed for a successful agentic AI strategy: https://lnkd.in/eYCdWsjG