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.
