American Express Co. said consumer retail spending improved in the third quarter, but spending on travel and entertainment remained substantially lower. Non-travel and non-entertainment spending—which made up about 70% of spending going into the pandemic—increased about 1% in the third quarter from a year earlier, Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Campbell said in an interview Friday. “We really look at the fact that non [travel and entertainment] spending is up year over year as illustrative of the way consumers and small businesses have just learned to adapt to the new world,” he said. While non-travel and non-entertainment spending showed some growth in the quarter, it hasn’t totally normalized. “What you would expect on the non-travel stuff is to see growth on an annual basis about 7 or 8%,” Mr. Campbell said.

Source: Wall Street Journal October 23, 2020 13:22 UTC