💳 Consumers Continue to Shop on Cards

The top 4 US banks had another solid quarter with credit cards.

This is the advantage of the diversified business model at full-service banks:

The credit card engine continues to fire while mortgage and trading are muted.

🟩 Credit Card Sales

Q1 ‘23 vs. Q3 ‘19: +31%

Q1 ‘23 vs. Q1 ‘22: +9.2%

📍 Consumers continued to shop at a pace faster than inflation, despite the current tech recession.

📍 Consumers confidence has gradually rebounded from the low in mid-2022.

🟦 Credit Card Balances

Q1 ‘23 vs. Q3 ‘19: +7%

Q1 ‘23 vs. Q1 ‘22: +17.7%

📍 As the financial cushion built in pandemic begins to decline, consumers put balance back on their cards.

📍 In the backdrop is the strong job market - latest unemployment rate is still 3.5% with ~10 million jobs open.

What do you think the Q2 numbers will be?