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Industry News
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Fed Sees Economy Improving Slightly |
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In its quarterly "Beige Book" release, the Federal Reserve says that economic conditions continue to expand, although severe snowstorms in early February held back activity in several Fed Districts. Nine reported that economic activity improved, but in most cases the increases were modest. Overall conditions were described as mixed in the Atlanta and St. Louis Districts, though St. Louis noted further signs of improvement in some areas. Richmond reported that economic activity slackened or remained soft across most sectors, due importantly to especially severe February weather in that region.
Consumer spending improved slightly in many Fed Districts since the last survey, the report noted. Retail sales improved in the Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, and San Francisco Districts, and New York said sales were well above year-ago levels in January and met expectations in February despite inclement weather. Philadelphia also reported that sales were moving up slowly until snowstorms hit in February. Boston and Cleveland characterized sales as mixed but slightly higher overall than year ago levels. Sales were lower than expected in the Atlanta and Kansas City Districts and were down from year-ago levels in the St. Louis District. Several districts reported that sales were strongest for lower-priced items, while sales of luxury and big ticket items remained sluggish. However, San Francisco noted scattered reports of increased discretionary spending, and Cleveland said some retailers noted a broader, if still slight, increase in demand across a variety of products. Inventories were being managed carefully and held at fairly low levels in most districts, but Chicago said rising sales were leading retailers to begin rebuilding inventories from low levels.
See the full report. |
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Discover says Small Businesses See Improving Economic Picture |
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America’s small business owners expressed higher economic hopes in January, largely due to increased expectations that conditions for their own businesses would improve in the next six months, according to the Discover Small Business Watch. The Watch index jumped to 85.5 from 77.0 in December.
More small business owners are planning to increase business development spending over the next six months, with 25 percent noting they will spend more on activities such as advertising, inventories and capital expenditures. This number is up from 18 percent in December. Further, 28 percent plan to make no changes, while 45 percent will decrease spending, down from 51 percent in December.
“We measure small business insights and expectations about the larger economy as well as on the local level, so it’s good to see confidence rise on Main Street,” said Ryan Scully, director of Discover's business credit card. “January showed us the first month-to-month increase since August in the number of small business owners who plan to increase spending on business development. Self-investment is a healthy sign in the small business economy.” |
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Read more...
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Retail Sales Show Some Strength |
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Retail sales climbed 1.3 percent in November thanks to a strong start to the holiday shopping season, according to the New York Times. The paper also says a report of improved consumer confidence has raised hopes that consumers may be spending more despite high unemployment. The retail sales increase doubled the increase forecast by economists. The strong overall gains were led by sales of cars and gasoline, though sales of many types of goods, including food, electronics, garden supplies, and sporting goods, also rose. Economists say that sales data issued by the U.S. Commerce Department has bolstered the projection of modest growth in consumer spending over the next several months. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index has posted its first gain in three months and beat expectations with a reading of 73.4 in early December, representing a 6-point increase. |
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First Data Reports Black Friday Results |
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First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today released First Data SpendTrend™ transaction data from Black Friday 2009 compared to last year. SpendTrend tracks same store consumer spending via credit, signature debit, PIN debit and EBT cards.
Overall transactions on Black Friday showed a healthy growth of 7.9% over 2008 and were in line with the overall transaction growth in October 2009 which was 8.2%. Same store sales volume increased 4.8% led by solid growth among value merchants.
Black Friday Transactions
| CHANGE
| Black Friday Volume
| CHANGE
| | Credit & Signature Debit | +5.8%
| Credit & Signature Debit | +2.5%
| PIN Debit
| +8.9%
| PIN Debit
| +7.6% | | Total Transactions | +7.9%
| Total Volume
| +4.8% |
Note: All transactions and volume are same store growth.
“Black Friday was better than last year both in terms of transaction growth and total dollars spent at the point of sale,” said Silvio Tavares, senior vice president of Investor Relations and Decision Support at First Data. “However, there is reason to remain cautious as our analysis suggests consumers remain very value conscious and paid more often with their debit cards instead of credit cards.”
In other news, First Data recently released its Holiday Gift Card Performance Report comparing gift card sales for the week ending November 29, 2009. The total dollar value of gift cards activated Friday grew 17.8% and the number of cards activated grew 9.8%.
Additional data from the SpendTrend Black Friday 2009 report can be accessed at www.firstdata.com
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Amex to Buy Revolution Money |
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In what it called a "small" deal worth about $300 million, American Express has announced plans to buy Revolution Money, the card-based alternative payments platform launched in 2007 by a goup that included former AOL Chief Executive Steve Case. American Express CEO Ken Chennault said his company believes Revolution Money "has big potential," and indicated that Amex plans to take the low-cost payments platform global. The immediate effect will be to give American Express a foothold in the alternative payments arena and the technology supporting it. The deal also -- at least potentially -- gives Amex closer business ties to several financial institutions with substantial issuing and aquiring operations. Citigroup and Fifth-Third Bank, for example, both issue Revolution Money cards and Fifth Third also includes Revolution card acceptaance in its merchant acquiring operations |
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