While one of the recurring complaints about the US consumer has been the willingness to dig into their savings which recent matched the highest level since 2012, something unexpected was revealed today when the March Consumer Credit data showed that not only did total consumer credit soar by $29.7 billion, or almost double the $16 billion expected, and the highest in series history...
... but that this was driven by a record $11 billion surge in revolving (aka credit card) debt, as it appears in March US consumers unleashed a historic debt-fuelled spending spree, one which as the chart below demonstrates is either a misprint, a huge outlier, or something has dramatically changed in US consumer psychology.
We are confident the March surge will be promptly unwound (or corrected away), however a far more troubling trend remains: the even more distressing explosion in consumer debt owned by the US government - mostly student and auto loans - as shown in the chart below.
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