Sunday, June 20, 2010

US Consumer Credit in April

[mEDITate-OR:
miss the problem..., cars and not butter...

This chart from last week form EconGrapher shows U.S. the latest credit data. But note, as they did that there was:
a $9.4 billion increase in non-revolving credit (reflecting strong car sales)
off set by an -$8.5 billion decrease in revolving credit.

What we are doing is buying long term durable goods, like cars, and we are NOT using our credit cards to buy "stuff" as much as we were. Good for the automobile industry, BAD for retail sales - restaurants & shopping malls.
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4. US Consumer Credit
US consumer credit rose by $1billion in April, matching consensus and beating the previous (downwardly revised) -$5.4 billion. The gain was driven by a $9.4 billion increase in non-revolving credit (reflecting strong car sales), off set by an -$8.5 billion decrease in revolving credit. The chart below shows what looks like a turning of the corner for consumer credit, and this lines up with the trend in the labour market. However arguably this number should still be contracting due to the need for consumer deleveraging to continue, the US personal savings rate was reported as 3.6% in April, which is towards the higher end compared to recent times for the US, but work still needs to be done in deleveraging, and increasing the savings rate (similar but in different direction to the China rebalancing above), for a more structural and sustainable recovery in the US.


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