Conveniently, Bank of America provided its monthly card spending update earlier to give a glimpse into not only consumer behavior in the first week of August but also all of July. According to the bank, total card spending, as measured by aggregated BAC credit and debit cards, increased 2.1% yoy for the 7-day period ending August 8th which is an improvement from the -3.0% yoy pace last week. One explanation posited by BofA's economists is that "the timing of the pay period likely held back spending last week and created a boost this week. Smoothing through, the story remains the same: card spending is moving sideways in a choppy fashion."
This eye of the storm needs an axis of swirl. There is none. Consumer banking has taking its hit, for the time being. But with the dollar back to trend it will be the Fed searching for taxes.
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