Consumer Credit Surges Most Since November 2016

After a big miss in April, when US consumer credit posted its smallest monthly increase in 6 years, resulting form a slump in demand for revolving credit, one month later things promptly reverted back to normal, and according to the Fed, in the month of May, total consumer credit rose by $18.4 billion, well above the $14.9 billion expected, and a solid jump from the upward revised April print of $12.9 billion. This was the biggest monthly jump in consumer credit of 2017, and the highest since last November’s increase of $25.1 billion.

Broken down by components, revolving credit rose by $7.4 billion, also the highest monthly increase since November, and a big jump from April’s $1.2 billion.

Meanwhile, non-revolving credit, or student and auto loans, continued their steady grind higher, rising by $11.0 billion, in line with recent months.

Finally, broken down by source of funding, the Federal Government was oddly missing in May, when it provided only $4.7 bilion of the unadjusted increase, while the biggest contributor to credit growth in the month was depository institutions, i.e., banks, which injected just over $14 billion in the economy.