NEW YORK—Americans continue to show they are willing to continue to pay higher prices in the face of an economy that could be tipped into a recession, according to credit card giants American Express and Bank of America.
American Express recently reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings and revenue, while raising its full-year forecast. The company said overall customer spending jumped 21% year over year, driven by growth in goods and services as well as travel and entertainment, CNBC reported.
The demand for travel is particularly resilient as Americans make up for postponed trips due to the pandemic, according to the report. Consumers are also splurging on food and entertainment after pandemic lockdowns eased, CNBC noted.
American Express said its travel and entertainment segment saw spending climb 57% from a year ago with volumes in its international markets surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time in the third quarter.
‘Near-Record Levels’
“Card member spending remained at near-record levels in the quarter,” American Express CEO Stephen Squeri said on an earnings call. “We expected the recovery in travel spending to be a tailwind for us, but the strength of the rebound has exceeded our expectations throughout the year.”
In addition, CNBC noted Bank of America isn’t experiencing any slower growth in spending either, despite inflation having reached historic highs. BofA CEO Brian Moynihan said the bank’s customers continue to spend freely, using their credit cards and other payment methods for 10% more transaction volume in September and the first half of October than a year earlier.
The Very Best in CU Reporting. Every Morning. To Your Inbox. At a Price Every CFO Will Love.
Don’t forget to check your Spam/Junk email folder if you haven’t been receiving your free, popular and daily CUToday.info news headlines.
And if you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time.
CUToday.info has received very positive response from readers following the move to an improved provider of the daily headlines, but many also noted they did need to go to their Spam/Junk folder and mark it as safe.
The new email solution has not only improved every reader’s delivery experience, but it also features a fresh, new format that is easy to read, especially on mobile devices.
Please note and/or make your IT department or email administrator aware the emails will be coming from the domains CUTodayinfo.com and CUTodayinfoReply.com.