Tighter credit, slower spending by better-off households may further cloud Fed outlook

Tumbling stock markets and signs of tightening credit may make the Federal Reserve’s job even more difficult this week as US central bank policymakers try to weigh whether consumer spending will suffer as households take stock of the potential blow to their net worth and greater difficulty in obtaining loans.

US retail sales for February, reported on Monday in the last set of hard economic data Fed officials will see