Biz Confidence
Small business owners report they are the most optimistic in seven years. Last month, 49% of small business owners reported that their revenues increased a little or a lot over the past 12 months, up from 37% a year ago.
Consumer Confidence Q3
Global consumer confidence is coming back slowly, but surely. An quarterly Index finds it has now exceeded a pre-recession level of for three consecutive quarters.
Retail Merchants Have Positive Outlook on Holiday Shopping
Chase Paymentech indicates 59% of e-commerce companies surveyed expect better sales volume this season than in 2011, while 47% expect it to be better than pre-recession levels in 2007. The Chase Paymentech eHoliday Shopping Monitor reveals expectations for the holiday shopping season among e-commerce companies across a variety of sectors. This survey arrives ahead of…
Chase Slate with Blueprint Shows More Consumers Creating Budgets
Chase Slate with Blueprint released survey findings on how back-to-school shoppers are managing their spending and borrowing, indicating shoppers are taking a more financially responsible approach. With this, 38% indicate they have a set budget for school-related expenses; in 2011, only 26 percent of people had created a budget for their back-to-school shopping. Clothing is the top category in regards to largest expense, as disclosed by 43% of back-to-school shoppers. This was followed by books or technology, according to 24% and 23% of respondents, respectively. To save money, 39% will purchase necessities such as books first and only buy discretionary items with remaining funds; 34% will make a list and stick to it; 26% will shop online; 17% will begin shopping after school starts; and 7% will leave kids at home when shopping.
Travel Spend Climbs to Pre-Recession Levels
Visa released its 2011 Travel Snapshot reports highlighting key spend insights from Visa account holders traveling to and from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Visa account holders from these countries continued to increase spend on international travel-related purchases from 2010 to 2011, building momentum toward pre-recession levels. Travelers from the United States increased tourism spend on their Visa accounts by 7 percent, those from Canada by 11 percent, and Mexico by 19 percent. Most notably, travelers from Brazil increased international travel spend on their Visa accounts by 32 percent in 2011 – 43 percent of which was in the United States. Visa account holders from Brazil increased spend on travel to the United States by 41 percent, from $1.9 billion in 2010 to $2.7 billion in 2011, edging out the U.K. as the second highest total contributor to U.S. tourism revenue. Visa account holders from China increased travel spend within the United States by 61 percent, from $741 million in 2010 to $942 million in 2011.
CARD ROA EARNINGS CONTINUE THE LONG CLIMB BACK UP
In this their sixth of seven year-end weekly industry trend reports, R.K. Hammer cites the current card industry ROA, compared to prior periods. Company Founder and Chairman Bob Hammer notes, “It has been a difficult past three years since 2008, when average ROA was calculated at 4.25% pre-tax. Since then small changes have occurred, from…
\”RISK-ADJUSTED REVENUE\” FOR CARDS RISING, & WHY THAT MAY BE SURPRISING GOOD NEWS FOR CONSUMERS
In a continuing series of year end card trend reports, card advisor R.K. Hammer has issued their findings for the most recent reporting period that indicate card industry revenue is up – not total revenue, but the more important “Risk-Adjusted Revenue” (RAR). Total revenue is good, but risk-adjusted is better. Company Founder and CEO Bob…
Unemployment Rate Lurches Toward Improvement
The October unemployment improved to 9.0% from 9.1% in September, the lowest since May, after having shown repeated rates of 9.1% throughout the spring and summer. Given the pre-recession unemployment rate averaged around 5%, the unemployment rate has been relatively high for the past few years. Nevertheless, it has finally shown signs if improvement, with…
Average Card Rate Running Down 15%
Pre-recession average credit card interest rates hovered around 16%- not far off the current 14.98% average- before dropping to a rock bottom 12.64% back in 2010. Rates have been on their way up since the June average of 14.83% and now sit at record highs. As for the months between, February rates dropped like a…
Credit Card ABS Performing, Not Expected to Last
Credit card ABS performance losses dwindled from persistently high levels while excess spread has strengthened to twice the pre-recession average. The Fitch’s Delinquency Index for September is 2.30%, a 35% drop-off compared to last year while losses fell nine basis points (bps) to a multi-year low of 6.32% from 6.41%. On this index, losses averaged…
No Change Yet on the Unemployment Rate %
Given the pre-recession unemployment rate averaged around 5%, the unemployment rate has been relatively high for the past few years and has not budged from the 9.1% mark- most recently posted in September- since April. Also, it has been within .2% of this rate since November 2010 when it neared 10%, clocking a rate of…
April Unemployment Edges Upward, COFs Drop Below 8%
While the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April was up for the first time since November to 9.0% for a difference of 244,000 jobs since March, the credit card chargeoff rate dropped .43% to 7.88% of outstanding credit card volume. With the number of unemployed persons totaling 13.7 million, credit card chargeoffs have been falling…