Hat tip to JPMorgan (JPM) CFO Jeremy Barnum (Yahoo Finance banking reporter David Hollerith for taking his question before mine).
Here is our exchange:
I: This week, we’ve had some cautious results from various consumer companies like PepsiCo ( PEP ). Is there anything in your debit or credit data that suggests a consumer pullback due to inflation or election concerns?
For children: The short answer is no. So we’ve made these two points over time, but I’ll reiterate them here. So our broad view is that consumer spending is flat in real terms. So, I see growth in spending, but you know we don’t see any meaningful weakness there. Like with this data, you can always take a magnifying glass and try to go deeper, and one of the things that we’ve seen a little bit in the spending patterns in the lower income segments, you start to see a little bit. Some evidence, some cycle of discretionary and involuntary spending, which has traditionally been interpreted, for obvious reasons, as a sign of … weakness.
But in a world where unemployment is at 4.1% and GDP growth is slowing quite a bit, the data we’re seeing on the consumer side is perfectly consistent with that economic environment. The bigger picture background, whether it’s spending or charge-offs or delinquency rates, cash buffers, is still consistent with a healthier consumer. You know, it’s not a concern at this point.
Note: JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon was not on the call as usual. We were told it was due to a travel conflict when he was returning from an event in Germany. Barnum responded to a reporter’s question about Dimon’s absence.
