The American consumer base is taking on more debt. While nowhere near a concern, the Federal Reserve released its July 2015 Consumer Credit report showing that credit rose by 6.7% on an annualized basis. This was up $19.1 billion from the prior month, and it marks a rising trend that has lasted for nearly four years now.
Tuesday’s report is rarely a market-moving report. It was also pretty much in-line with estimates if you split the consensus estimates. Those estimates were $19.5 billion as the consensus from Dow Jones. Bloomberg was calling for a gain of $18 billion in July.
Credit card debt is the key component of revolving credit, and it rose by 5.7% annually. That is high on the surface, but lower than the roughly 10% gain measured in June.
Student debt and auto loans make up a large portion of the non-revolving credit. This measurement of dent rose 7% annually versus a gain of almost 9.5% in June.
With so much of consumer spending being tied to purchases on credit cards or tied to the ability to get a loan for large ticket items, much of this is likely to support the notion that the U.S. consumer remained healthy throughout the first two-thirds of the key summer months.
Again, the consumer credit report is not generally a mover of the financial markets.
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