Well, it finally happened. Revolving consumer credit (mostly credit cards) outstanding in June finally exceeded its April 2008 high. See chart. The 4.6% annual percentage change in Q2 compares with a savings rate that is at 3.8%, not far from the lowest level since December 2007. A reminder, core retail sales slowed to a 2.4% y/o/y growth rate, matching the slowest since January 2014.
REVOLVING CREDIT OUTSTANDING
The pace of nonrevolving consumer debt outstanding did slow to a 3.5% annual percentage change as the pace of gains in student loans and auto loans (for obvious reasons) moderated. But as seen in the chart, a picture says a thousand words with this area of consumer credit.
NON-REVOLVING CREDIT OUTSTANDING
Peter is the Chief Investment Officer at Bleakley Advisory Group and is a CNBC contributor.