Consumer Credit Shows Sixth Straight Gain In August

Revolving credit continues to show life, up a solid $4.0 billion in August for a sixth straight gain. Gains in this reading, which have been scarce this recovery, perhaps suggest that consumers are growing less reluctant to run up their credit cards, which would be good news for retailers going into the holidays. Non-revolving credit, driven by both vehicle financing and student financing which is tracked in this component, rose $12.0 billion to make for a headline increase of $16.0 billion.

Recent History Of This Indicator:
Consumer credit is expected to rise $20.5 billion in August but the key will be the revolving credit component which has posted a rare run of five straight gains to indicate rising use of credit card debt, which in turn signals greater confidence among consumers.