U.S. internet service costs in May were up 2.5% year over year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index unadjusted data released Friday. It said residential phone service costs increased 4.7% year over year, but wireless service was down 0.7%. Cable and satellite TV service rose 5.8%. BLS said May prices overall were up 8.6% year over year before seasonal adjustment, with airline fares and new and used vehicles being major drivers of inflation.

Three-fourths of respondents in a Cowen consumer tracker for May reported worsening inflation pressure, saying prices for daily goods increased year on year vs. 60% in the March survey. About 53% said their savings were down in May vs. 46% in March. Some 47% are cutting, or plan to cut, spending due to higher prices, up from 42% in the April survey; the percentage was 74% in households with annual income under $50,000. Top items being cut were social events and dining out (60%), travel (53%) and groceries (48%). About 27% planned to cut spending on electronics, steady with the April tracker, up 4 percentage points from March. Some 22% planned to cut cable/internet service vs. 24% in April; 27% planned to cut at-home entertainment services vs. 29% in April, 27% in March and 23% in February. The report tracks about 2,500 U.S. consumers.

Luxury home sales fell in the U.S. for the three months ended April 30, Redfin reported Friday. Sales of non-luxury homes dropped 5.4%, said the real estate brokerage firm, which defines luxury homes as the most expensive 5% of houses in a given market. Redfin cited higher interest rates, a “tepid” stock market, inflation and economic uncertainty as dampers to demand. The year-over-year cool down is also a reflection of the market for high-end homes “coming back to earth following a nearly 80% surge in sales a year ago,” it said. Luxury home sales growth began to slow last summer amid an “extreme shortage” of high-end properties for sale driven by a spike in interest from wealthy remote workers looking to escape urban areas during the COVID-19 pandemic and take advantage of low mortgage rates. The inventory crunch has begun to ease, but the shortage of luxury homes on the market is still likely contributing to the drop in luxury residential sales, it said. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 5.23% in the week ending June 9, down from a peak of 5.3% earlier this year but still significantly higher than 3.11% at the end of last year, Redfin said.

DirecTV's U-verse TV topped the 2022 rankings of subscription TV services, and Verizon Fios had the highest customer satisfaction among ISPs, in the American Customer Satisfaction Index study for telecommunications providers, released this week. Verizon, followed closely by AT&T, had the highest customer satisfaction among landline phone providers. Topping the streaming service satisfaction surveys was the Microsoft Store, followed closely by Disney+. ACSI said results came from 23,605 email interviews done between April 2021 and March 2022.

Global headwinds from the China lockdowns, plus the Ukraine war and inflationary trends, are expected to result in an 8.2% decline in 2022 PC shipments to 321.2 million units, reported IDC Wednesday. Despite the lower forecast for 2022, PC shipments are expected to remain “well above” pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels “as upcoming device refreshes, robust commercial demand, and uptake within emerging markets continue to be drivers for the industry,” it said. IDC expects shipments to return to positive annual growth in 2023 and beyond, though this year's setback will result in a compound annual growth rate decline of 0.6% through 2026, it said. IDC’s research “continues to show strong demand and supply activity aimed at the commercial PC market, but the consumer and education markets are seeing increasing concerns and, as a result, reduced orders.” said analyst Ryan Reith.

Hybrid workers who split their time between a physical office and a remote workspace “are more productive and engaged than employees who are entirely office-based or fully remote,” reported Citrix Tuesday. They also report better physical and mental health and feel more positive about their organization, it said. Citrix canvassed 900 business leaders and 1,800 employees in eight countries, including the U.S., finding 69% of hybrid workers feel productive, compared with 64% of remote workers and 59% of in-office employees, it said. It also found 70% of hybrid workers conveyed a “strong emotional connection” to their organizations and leadership team, compared with 60% of remote workers and 58% of in-office employees, it said.

The global smart speaker and display market declined 5% to 35.3 million shipments in Q1, hit by component shortages, the war in Ukraine and a resurgence of COVID-19 in China, Strategy Analytics reported Monday. It was only the second year-on-year decline in the category’s history. SA forecasts a “market reset” led by two market dynamics, said analyst Jack Narcotta: approaching market saturation for smart speakers and smart displays and a shift from customer acquisition to add-on or replacement sales, “which historically have longer sales cycles.” In China, sales of smart displays fell 7% year on year to 9.9 million units, with Chinese vendors Alibaba, Baidu and Xiaomi “only beginning to deal with a set of challenges unique to them" that will alter the course of their respective smart speaker and smart display businesses through 2023, SA said. Slowing the surge of COVID-19 in China will take time, and compounded by the ongoing component shortage, economic recovery “will be hampered until at least mid-2023,” SA said. Basic smart speaker sales slipped about 4% in the U.S., where 19 of the top 50 smart speaker products sold in Q1 had displays, led by Amazon Echo Show 5 with 1.6 million shipments. Apple’s HomePod mini had the most growth in the quarter at about 30% to 4.5 million shipments. Amazon and Google are rapidly entering their “adult” years, as most consumers that wanted an Echo or Nest device have likely purchased at least one, said analyst David Watkins. Amazon and Google need to adjust their business models to “upselling additional devices to consumers or encouraging them to update older models," he said.

Competition “makes everybody better,” and it's “good for the consumer,” American Express CEO Steve Squeri told a Bernstein investor conference Thursday. “Look at how we're competing now in the premium space,” he said. “I think Chase Sapphire did so much good for the premium space.” Squeri shared with then-NAB President Gordon Smith that when Chase Sapphire “put so much time, money, effort and spotlight" on the premium space, "that it made it attractive to a lot of other constituencies that we probably wouldn't have gone after,” he said. “Since Chase Sapphire launched, our Platinum Card base has doubled.”

Two-thirds of consumers worldwide who switched brands in the past year were driven by better deals, emailed eMarketer Thursday. Some 58% were looking for better product quality and 46% product availability, said the market research company. Unsteady supply chains and rapid inflation are making it hard to build brand loyalty, eMarketer said, saying 71% of consumers worldwide switched brands at least once in the past year. For private label brands and direct-to-consumer companies, the trend offers an opportunity to draw in cost-conscious shoppers, but “brands will have to market beyond price to keep them,” it said. Some 55% of consumers prioritize price over brand when buying consumer electronics, it said, citing YouGov figures.

Consumer intentions on buying new TV sets increased slightly in May compared with April, according to preliminary data reported Tuesday by the Conference Board. Analytics company Toluna canvassed 3,000 U.S. homes for the board through May 23, finding 11.6% plan to buy a new TV set in the next six months, up from 11.3% in April, 11% in March and 11.3% in May 2021, it said. Consumer confidence fell slightly in May, after rising modestly in April, due to “a perceived softening in labor market conditions,” said the board. Consumers don’t foresee the economy “picking up steam in the months ahead,” but they do expect labor market conditions to remain relatively strong, “which should continue to support confidence in the short run,” it said.