According to data published during the second week of January by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), average weekly earnings reached 1.42%, with inflation closing the year at 2.7%.

Meanwhile, figures from the Census Bureau indicated this week that, the Retail spending also increased by 3.3% year-on-year in November. These figures are much higher than the expectations of some economists who predicted an increase of only 0.4% for that month. As for the housing market, the reduction in interest rates partly increased home sales, and according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), sales increased by 5.1% in December, also influenced by the drop in mortgage rates. Lawrence Yun, an economist at NAR, commented that, "2025 was undoubtedly another difficult year for homebuyers, marked by record-low prices and historically low sales. Housing market conditions began to improve in the fourth quarter with lower mortgage rates and slower growth in home prices," he said. Regarding inflation, it shows stability compared to recent years; the overall CPI increased by only 0.3%, while the core CPI stood at 0.2%. Although the inflation rate remains above the Federal Reserve's 2% target, the economy has been stabilizing. The Federal Reserve also decided to lower interest rates to 3%, providing some relief to consumers. In conclusion, recent economic data for the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 show increasing strength on Main Street, which could also be partly due to wage adjustments that are boosting consumer spending.