Company opened banking unit and is expanding overseas to counter weak consumer spending at home.
The slowdown in GDP can be attributed to weak consumer spending, slow hiring and less government spending.
Even people running fine businesses could have been killed by frozen credit markets, weak consumer spending or fraud.
Food service distributors will suffer, as their primary customers are restaurants, which have struggled from weak consumer spending.
Between the recent GDP report, Taxmaggedon, weak consumer spending and other factors, growth in the small business economy is lackluster.
Weak consumer spending is a concern for the European Central Bank, which lowered its benchmark interest rate to a record low of 0.5% last week.
BBC: Eurozone retail sales fall for second consecutive month
Weak consumer spending has hurt both Dell and Fruit of the Loom, and they both said this week that they'd be handing out pink slips.
Firms fearful of weak consumer spending are cautious about investing.
Hi-def Blu-ray discs, which were supposed to usher in a new era of movie library upgrades, have yet to make up the losses from piracy and weak consumer spending.
The sector, which includes retail chains, hotels, restaurants, and media and entertainment companies among others, is extremely sensitive to conditions like high unemployment and weak consumer spending, but after enduring a bumpy ride for the last few months a rebound may be in the cards.
Weak consumer-spending growth and disappointing levels of corporate investment point to an economy held back by zombie households and zombie companies.
Mortgage lending has not rebounded (and housing sales are weak), consumer spending seems pretty moderate, and most business either have ample cash already on the balance sheet or no immediate plans to expand.
On top of that, weak house prices will hurt consumer spending.
Even if housing stabilises, consumer spending will stay weak as households pay down debt.
"Consumer spending remained disappointingly weak in December, " said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, which compiled the index.
The main reason why consumer spending was so weak in the first quarter was that consumers started to save more.
But perhaps most important has been the weak GDP growth that has kept consumer spending at a low level, a particularly rough condition for smaller, start-up businesses.
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The southern economies, such as Greece, have leant too heavily on consumer spending, have weak public finances and rely on foreign capital to supplement their low savings.
It highlights the lack of business investment at UK and Scottish levels, which is necessary to sustain growth while consumer and government spending is weak.
Consumer spending seems unsustainably strong given weak income growth, shrunken wealth, and tight-fisted banks.
The U.S. presents a mixed picture with high unemployment rate and a weak housing market on one hand and growing consumer spending on the other.
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Consumer spending is expected to remain weak in the New Year, owing to the impact of a rise in payroll taxes, also agreed as part of the fiscal cliff deal.
The country has run a deficit continuously for 30 years, but last year's was its biggest yet, driven not only by weak exports but also by rapid growth in consumer spending.
"Global economic conditions are improving but remain fragile, " he said, pointing to weak labor markets, tight credit, and depressed consumer spending.
The presumption that what is good for exports is good for the economy partly explains why consumer spending in Germany has historically been weak.
The Economic Planning Agency (EPA) has admitted that although corporate spending is improving, consumer demand remains weak.
Consumer spending is down and consumer confidence remains weak.
In particular, UBS noted concerns that there could be trouble looming for chip companies with big exposure to the consumer electronics, PC and auto sectors, given weak spending trends.
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