One of the newer trends emerging in the economy these days is the use of real-time data from the banks on consumer behavior. They are now sharing data from the activity in credit and debit cards in their systems as a proxy for how the broader marketplace is acting.
The latest to issue some results is TD Bank. They looked at May and June traffic on their clients’ cards to determine that consumer or retail spending is softening nationally. That correlates well with StatsCan data even though the bank information covers a more recent part of the calendar.
TD says segments such as travel showed some sparks of life in May and June while spending at the local gas station was declining. Presumably falling gasoline prices had a role to play in that lower spend.
But overall, home furnishings, electronics and general merchandise stores were up while clothing sales backed off.
Saskatchewan also showed a significant gain on a month-over-month basis….rising from a 3 per cent increase in May to an impressive increase of 10.5 per cent in June.
