The American consumer is in a state of perpetual evolution. With the second installment of The Consumer Pulse, Horizon Media’s Futures Group continues tracking where the American consumer is heading — now drawing on 7,000 U.S. adults across two waves. 

Here are a few highlights to get you started: 

• The Mood-Spend Gap: Optimism is ticking up, led by the people with the most reason to worry — but spending has stayed exactly where it was. Sentiment is moving yet wallets haven’t followed. For brands, Q2 is shaping up to be a retention market, not an acquisition one. 

• Discipline Fraying Toward Experiences: Spending discipline looks intact on the surface, but a third of consumers now say they spend impulsively — rising fastest among the people actively trying to cut back. Live events and culture is the only discretionary category posing real spending growth.  

• The AI Anxiety Paradox: AI adoption holds strong, but the only AI attitude that moved this wave was the worry about being left behind. The anxiety is climbing fastest among the heaviest users, and the pattern holds across every generation. Fluency doesn’t insulate you. For brands, this means leading with outcomes, not technology.  

• Gen X, the Generation to Watch: Gen X moved more than any other generation this wave — on pessimism, AI anxiety, and impulse spending. Close enough to retirement to feel the pressure, far enough away to still be navigating a job market being reshaped by AI, they may be the leading indicator for where the broader consumer is heading. 

Download the full report below.