"I think consumers can continue to really hold up the economy for two reasons:

"Number one, the job market. The job market remains strong, and if you have a strong job market that means more people are getting jobs, wages tend to increase more, that pumps more income into consumers pockets.

"Secondly, there has been a record increase in household wealth during the past three years. This has gone somewhat unnoticed. It’s not all due to the stock market. It’s due to many things. And studies show that more consumer wealth translates into increased consumer spending. In fact, it translates about 7 cents in more in consumer spending for every dollar increase in wealth.

"So for those two reasons we think that the consumer will continue to spend, and it’s really doing to take a slow down in those two factors, I think, to send the consumer down on the mat."