(NewsNation) — A new retail report shows which products Americans are spending the most money on, and which products are now being left on store shelves.
According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau numbers, Americans are not spending money on big-ticket home items like they had in years past. But instead, during a period with historic inflation, Americans are spending money on things like gas.
Gas spending is up 39%. And it’s not because they’re buying more gas.
They’re actually spending more for gas as gas prices are up 60% from where they were this time last year. That means that Americans are spending more money for the gas that they need.
Experts expect the price of gas to drop below $5 per gallon later this year.
Gas prices actually dropped slightly overnight into Thursday, according to Gas Buddy expert Patrick De Haan.
He tweeted, “For the first time since May, the U.S. national average price of gasoline yesterday saw a daily drop of 0.6c/gal to $5.021/gal. We should fall under $5 in the next week or so, stations being a bit hesitant to lower prices too much yet with high volatility.”
Americans are also spending more money on restaurants.
Restaurant spending is up 24%. Part of that is because the cost of food is more expensive. But the easing of pandemic restrictions means that people are excited to get back out there again and socialize.
In fact, according to the online reservation platform Resy, reservations are up 50% from pre-pandemic levels, making it a little bit harder to make reservations.