July 2024
Consumer Checkpoint: Getaways and giveaways
Services spending kept rising in June – both at home and abroad. Is rising financial wealth leading to firmer spending growth?
Key takeaways
- In June, total card spending per household was down 0.5% year-over-year, according to Bank of America internal data. Seasonally-adjusted total card spending dropped 0.1% month-over-month (MoM), but over the second quarter as a whole, total card spending rose 0.3%, suggesting that while softening, there is still some momentum behind consumer spending.
- Services spending kept rising in June, up 0.2% MoM, and 0.4% over Q2, partly reflecting greater spending on leisure – both at home and abroad.
- As for who is spending, while buoyant labor markets have benefited lower-income households, those with higher incomes are also seeing expanding wealth through rising financial assets, and we find evidence they are increasing spending as a result. At the same time, older, wealthier households appear to be distributing more of their assets to younger relatives.
Read our full analysis for a more in-depth look at these trends.
Consumer Checkpoint is a regular publication from Bank of America Institute. It aims to provide a holistic and real-time estimate of U.S. consumers’ spending and their financial well-being, leveraging the depth and breadth of Bank of America proprietary data. Any such Bank of America proprietary data is not intended to be reflective or indicative of, and should not be relied upon as, the results of operations, financial conditions or performance of Bank of America.
