Data covering the period after the Fed pivot shows that US consumers significantly changed their expectations to interest rates after the December FOMC meeting. Specifically, the share of consumers expecting interest rates to go down jumped to levels last seen during the pandemic and during the financial crisis in 2008, see chart below. With almost
The numbers: Total consumer credit rose $23.7 billion in November, up from a $5.8 billion increase in the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Monday. That translates into a 5.7% annual rate, up from a revised 1.4% rise in the prior month. That was the biggest gain since November 2022, and puts total consumer credit
Discover Financial Services stock tumbled 8% in early trading Thursday after the company missed earnings estimates and set aside more money to cover bad loans. Discover said its provision for credit losses was $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter, an increase of $1 billion from the previous year. The increase included a $305 million higher
When she started shopping for the holidays late last year, Kelly Andersen was struggling to buy her loved ones gifts. So she turned to a novel solution to get through the season: Buy now, pay later. The 31-year-old freelance copywriter from Los Angeles used Klarna and PayPal to split a variety of purchases into four
The number of 401(k) plan participants taking hardship distributions increased by 13% between the second and third quarters, according to an analysis by Bank of America of its clients’ employee benefit programs. That figure now stands at 18,040, the highest level in at least the past five quarters since Bank of America started tracking this
The share of U.S. households reporting that it’s harder to obtain credit than one year ago is hovering near the high in the New York Fed’s consumer survey, which is around 10 years old.
Walmart on Thursday topped Wall Street’s fiscal third-quarter earnings estimates as sales rose, but the big-box retailer struck a cautious tone with its outlook after it saw consumer spending weaken at the end of the period. The company’s shares slid more than about 8% on Thursday after they touched an all-time high the previous day.