Chief Investment Strategist Patrick Ryan joined Yahoo Finance to discuss U.S. consumer health, noting there’s a “dichotomy” between what confidence surveys and what we see in labor markets and spending. He expects consumers to continue to keep spending given a stronger economic outlook and improving small-business hiring sentiment.
Patrick added, “It’s very bifurcated between higher end consumers and lower end consumers, but clearly the high-end consumers are ruling the day at this point in time.”
💵 "The high-end consumers are ruling the day at this point in time," Madison Investments strategist Patrick Ryan says on January consumer confidence data. pic.twitter.com/qzalKI0WNU
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) January 29, 2026