U.S. Consumers Are Getting More Careful...Price instability is on the rise despite strong economic indicators.

213,000 New Unemployment Claims...Lowest
in 7 monthsU.S. Existing Home Sales Of 3.96 Million In October...in line with the forecast
U.S. consumers' cautious stance worries about economic outlook
Discount Store Walmart Q3 Revenue Up 5.5% From A Year Ago

[Anchor]
U.S. inflation rates are in line with expert forecasts, and employment and housing-related economic indicators are also good.

However, U.S. consumers are cautious about increasing their consumption of cheap food and reducing their consumption of household goods, and are suffering from price instability.

I'm correspondent Lee Seung-yoon from New York.

[Reporter]
New U.S. jobless claims fell 6,000 to 213,000 last week from a week ago, the lowest in seven months.

The number of existing home sales in the U.S. in October was 3.96 million, up 3.4% month-on-month and 2.9% year-on-year, in line with forecasts.

Experts expect the U.S. housing market to end its worst sales slump and continue its upward trend due to higher employment.

[Lawrence Yoon / Senior Economist, National Association of Realtors: 2025 will be better conditions for homebuyers. There will be more diverse housing stock options.]

But U.S. consumers have not emerged from the shadow of inflation, raising concerns about the U.S. economic outlook.

[Brender Holloway / U.S. Consumer: All prices have gone up so much that it's stressful. This is because I have to think about whether I should buy something or not at this price.]

Walmart, which sells affordable groceries and other items, posted revenue of $169.6 billion in the third quarter, up 5.5% from a year ago, beating the expert estimate of $167.7 billion.

Sales at BJ's Wholesale Club, a warehouse-type discount store that sells fresh food and other items, also increased by more than $100 million.

Target, on the other hand, focused on non-essential consumer goods such as clothing and household goods, saw its sales fall 4.3%.

Experts explained that this was due to inflation-stricken consumers being cautious about consumption, buying a lot of cheap goods at discount stores and especially those in the upper income bracket.

Whether the U.S. economy can shake off concerns about weakening consumer sentiment during the year-end shopping season is expected to determine when and how fast the benchmark interest rate will rise.

I'm YTN's Lee Seungyoon from New York.