AXIOS (Courtenay Brown) - Americans keep spending while "grumbling" about the economy
Data: U.S. Census Bureau ; Chart: Courtenay Brown/Axios The list of headwinds facing American consumers keeps getting longer. Yet their willingness to spend has not yet cracked. Why it matters: Economists feared that the Middle East-driven jump in gasoline prices would dent consumer spending. Instead, a still-stable labor market and rising household wealth appear to have given consumers enough cushion to keep spending. - For Federal Reserve officials, resilient consumer demand is both encouraging and challenging : It keeps the economy growing while making it harder to judge how quickly inflation can ease. What's new: Retail sales rose 0.2% in June, the fifth straight monthly increase, after May was revised up to a robust 1%. - That…