Due to consumers’ continued appetite for travel, one of the major sources of income despite rising inflation; pandemic-weary consumers are projected to benefit U.S. card firms.
Analysts predict that Visa Inc, Mastercard, and American Express will experience an increase in cross-border volume as more businesses resume business travel and more people plan vacations.
Wedbush Securities analyst Moshe Katri said that monthly statistics from Visa and Mastercard indicated a little impact on payments or cross-border volumes, adding that “so far, despite the macro, you continue to see a reasonably stable consumer.”
The bottom line, at least for now, the sky is not falling.
Cross-border volumes are a reflection of purchases made using cards outside the country where they were issued and are a gauge of travel demand.
According to a survey from travel insurance aggregator Squaremouth.com, travelers in the United States spent 35% more in the fall of this year than they did in 2021 due to pent-up demand for travel and inflation.
A hint that the demand for travel was outpacing worries about high air costs was the estimate for excellent earnings from American Airlines, United Airlines Holdings, and Delta Air Lines for the remainder of the year.
