{"id":1707746,"date":"2022-10-23T07:51:58","date_gmt":"2022-10-23T11:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1707746"},"modified":"2022-10-23T09:55:38","modified_gmt":"2022-10-23T13:55:38","slug":"american-express-sees-mixed-signals-in-economy-but-consumer-spending-still-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/american-express-sees-mixed-signals-in-economy-but-consumer-spending-still-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"American Express Sees \u2018Mixed Signals\u2019 in Economy but Consumer Spending Still Strong"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Famerican-express-sees-mixed-signals-in-economy-but-consumer-spending-still-strong%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1707746&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The CFO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-american-express\">American Express<\/a> said that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-consumer-spending\">consumer spending<\/a> trends remain strong, despite acknowledging \u201cmixed signals\u201d in the economy.<\/p>\n<p>AmEx reported a 21 percent rise in cardmember spending in the previous quarter, as the goods and services and the travel and entertainment categories witnessed growth.<\/p>\n<p>The financial services company posted on Oct. 21 better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter of $1.88 billion in net income, or $2.47 a share.<\/p>\n<p>This is an increase from $1.83 billion for the year-prior quarter, at $2.27 a share.<\/p>\n<p>The FactSet consensus was for $2.40 a share in earnings this period, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/american-express-says-spending-remains-strong-as-earnings-top-expectations-11666350309\">MarketWatch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>AmEx gained $13.56 billion in total revenues in net interest revenue for the third quarter, just above the $13.52 billion expected by analysts.<\/p>\n<p>The credit card company took in $10.93 billion in earnings in the third quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are seeing the continuation of the pandemic-driven step-up in digital payments,\u201d Chief Financial Officer Jeff Campbell told MarketWatch.<\/p>\n<p>The CFO observed that company executives are \u201csquinting and looking hard\u201d for signs of consumer spending pressure, but they only observe strong momentum for now.<\/p>\n<h3>AMEX\u2019s CEO Reinsures Investors After End of Week Loss<\/h3>\n<p>However, AmEx\u2019s CEO Stephen Squeri, reassured investors on Friday, after its stock fell 4 percent in pre-market trading after the third-quarter earnings release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not seeing any changes in consumer spending,\u201d Squeri told Yahoo Finance. \u201cWe have strong credit quality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/10\/21\/us-consumer-is-soldiering-on-despite-soaring-inflation-and-recession-risk-credit-card-giants-say.html\">separate interview with\u00a0CNBC<\/a>, Squeri said that \u201ccard member spending remained at near-record levels in the quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CEO addressed some concerns with Yahoo Finance, over a potential slowdown when the long-awaited recession occurs.<br \/>\u201cIf anything changes, we have plans in place to pivot,\u201d said Squeri.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I didn\u2019t say that, you would think I was an idiot. What CEO doesn\u2019t have plans in place for recession? You know, I mean, everybody has, but I had plans in place in 2019. And I was able to pull it off the shelf to navigate the pandemic and that worked out pretty good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He reiterated the credit card firm\u2019s full-year sales forecast for 23 to 25 percent growth.<\/p>\n<p>Squeri predicted that AmEx\u2019s earnings would be \u201cabove\u201d the top end of its prior range of $9.25 to $9.65 per share, due to a good holiday season and strong consumer spending last quarter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cSo my view is I think we\u2019re going to have strong retail spending, and we\u2019ll have strong travel spending through the holiday season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h3>CFO Expects Gains Into Fourth Quarter<\/h3>\n<p>Meanwhile, Campbell said that AmEx\u2019s third-quarter spending was 30 percent higher than 2019 levels.<\/p>\n<p>This comes after second-quarter spending was up 28 percent, which he says indicates a \u201csequential strengthening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CFO explained to Marketwatch that this holds true regarding July through September.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe demand for travel has exceeded our expectations throughout the year,\u201d said Squeri said in an earnings release.<\/p>\n<p>He said that\u00a0overall spending on travel and entertainment was 57 percent higher than last year\u2019s levels, after adjusting for foreign exchange impacts.<\/p>\n<p>Campbell also said that travel and entertainment spending rose above pre-pandemic levels for the first time during the same quarter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d say with each quarter our confidence grows in our longer term multiyear growth aspirations,\u201d said Campbell.<\/p>\n<p>AmEx reported 3.3 million new card accounts, along with a record boost in American-based consumer Platinum and Gold card accounts as well as business Platinum cards.<\/p>\n<p>The CFO told Marketwatch that larger companies, which have accounts largely geared towards travel, are \u201cnot fully back to pre-pandemic levels,\u201d but that the \u201csteady recovery for businesses getting back on the road is still going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, smaller firms, which make up the majority of the credit card company\u2019s commercial accounts, are currently witnessing healthy trends in contrast.<\/p>\n<p>AmEx disclosed $778 million in consolidated provisions for credit losses in the last period, with a year-to-period gain of $191 million.<\/p>\n<p>The creditor explained that the losses reflected a $387 million reserve build.<\/p>\n<p>This was largely driven by growth in customer loans and changes in economic forecasts, in contrast to its previous $393 million reserve release in 2021, while facing an increase in write-offs in the third quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Campbell noted that an excess in liquidity during the pandemic, due to Federal COVID relief, led AmEx to later expect moderate incremental increases in delinquencies and write-offs.<\/p>\n<p>He repeated to Marketwatch\u00a0that he still does not \u201csee any particular signs of stress driven by the economic environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-bryan-jung\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/ttl7daySGw_WEB_BrianJung.jpg\" alt=\"Bryan Jung\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bryan S. Jung is a native and resident of New York City with a background in politics and the legal industry. He graduated from Binghamton University.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CFO of American Express said that consumer spending trends remain strong, despite acknowledging \u201cmixed signals\u201d in the economy.AmEx reported a 21 percent rise in cardmember spending in the previous<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1695376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1707746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1707746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1695376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1707746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1707746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1707746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}