U.S. consumer credit growth accelerates slightly in March

The U.S. consumer credit rose slightly in March. Total consumer credit was up USD 16.4 billion. Meanwhile, revolving credit has been slowing down in the subsequent months following its peak growth of 6.8 percent year-on-year in November 2016.

In the first quarter of this year, real personal consumption expanded at the slowest annual rate since 2009. Along with a 0.7 percentage point rise in the personal saving rate between December and March, the deceleration is not surprising altogether, noted Wells Fargo in a research report.

Through the first quarter of this year, non-revolving credit growth stayed quite stable, despite the deceleration in auto sales witnessed through the initial few months of 2017. A breakdown of non-revolving credit growth into its subcomponents is not yet available for the first quarter; however, it is probable that an increase in student loan borrowing in the quarter helped counter the deceleration in auto sales, added Wells Fargo.