‘There is a slowdown happening’ – Wells Fargo, BofA CEOs point to cooling consumer amid Fed hikes
In this article WFC BAC Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Many shoppers say they plan to spend less this Black Friday as the cost-of-living crisis bites. Richard Baker | In Pictures | Getty Images American consumers are tapping the brakes on spending as the Federal Reserve's interest rate increases reverberate throughout the economy, according to the CEOs of two of the largest American banks. After two years of pandemic-fueled, double-digit growth in Bank of America card volume, "the rate of growth is slowing," CEO Brian Moynihan said Tuesday at a financial conference. While retail payments surged 11% so far this year to nearly $4 trillion, that increase obscures a slowdown that began in recent weeks: November spending rose just 5%, he said. It was a similar story at rival Wells Fargo , according to CEO Charlie Scharf, who cited shrinking growth in credit-card spending and roughly flat debit card transaction volumes. The bank leaders, with their bird's...