{"id":770,"date":"2025-01-25T18:43:58","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T18:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/amex-spending-picked-up-at-year-end-thanks-to-younger-cardholders\/"},"modified":"2025-01-25T18:43:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-25T18:43:58","slug":"amex-spending-picked-up-at-year-end-thanks-to-younger-cardholders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/amex-spending-picked-up-at-year-end-thanks-to-younger-cardholders\/","title":{"rendered":"AmEx spending picked up at year-end, thanks to younger cardholders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108087833\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>Silas Stein | Picture Alliance | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p><span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-1\">American Express&#8217;<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> affluent cardholders got comfortable spending more freely again late last year, Chief Financial Officer <a href=\"https:\/\/ir.americanexpress.com\/governance-and-corporate-responsibility\/executive-committee-and-directors\/person-details\/default.aspx?ItemId=29b975e9-7097-4bdb-97ca-2382211216d0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christophe Le Caillec<\/a> told CNBC.<\/p>\n<p>Spending on AmEx cards jumped 8% year over year in the fourth quarter after slowing from a 7% growth rate early in the year to 6% during the second and third quarters, according to the firm&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/s26.q4cdn.com\/747928648\/files\/doc_financials\/2024\/q4\/Q4-2024-Earnings-Presentation.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">earnings<\/a> presentation.<\/p>\n<p>While the year-end pickup was seen across all customer segments and geographies, it was especially fueled by millennials and Gen Z users, where transaction volumes jumped 16%, up from 12% in the third quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Older groups were more restrained with their cards. Gen X customers spent 7% more in the fourth quarter, while baby boomers saw billings rise just 4%.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had very strong growth from Gen Z and millennials, and that 2 percentage point acceleration gives us a lot of optimism for 2025,&#8221; Le Caillec said.<\/p>\n<p>Elevated transaction levels have continued into the first three weeks of this year, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Younger Americans are said to spend more on experiences rather than goods, and that is reflected in the results from AmEx, which along with rival card issuer <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-4\">JPMorgan Chase<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>, dominate the market for high-end credit cards.<\/p>\n<p>Travel and entertainment billings rose 11% in the quarter, compared with 8% for good and services. The boost in travel came from airline spending, which rose 13%, with spending for business class and first class airfares up 19%, according to Le Caillec.<\/p>\n<p>AmEx shares fell more than 2% in midday trading Friday after the company <a href=\"https:\/\/s26.q4cdn.com\/747928648\/files\/doc_financials\/2024\/q4\/Q4-2024-Earnings-Press-Release.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> earnings and revenue that were roughly in line with analysts&#8217; expectations. Shares of the New York-based company have been on a tear over the past year, hitting a 52-week high on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are encouraged by accelerating billings growth as we believe it will be a key factor for Amex to meet its aspirational target of at least 10% revenue growth,&#8221; William Blair analysts led by Cristopher Kennedy wrote Friday in a research note. &#8220;We remain buyers on any pullback.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-relatedContent\" id=\"RegularArticle-RelatedContent-1\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-container\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-nonCollapsibleContent\">\n<h2 class=\"RelatedContent-header\">Don\u2019t miss these insights from CNBC PRO<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108091999\">\n<div role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" id=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108091999\" class=\"PlaceHolder-wrapper\" data-vilynx-id=\"7000364536\" data-test=\"VideoPlaceHolder\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-videoEmbed\" id=\"InlineVideo-0\" data-test=\"InlineVideo\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-inlineThumbnailContainer\"><span class=\"InlineVideo-videoButton\"\/><span\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Silas Stein | Picture Alliance | Getty Images American Express&#8217; affluent cardholders got comfortable spending more freely again late last year, Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC. Spending on AmEx cards jumped 8% year over year in the fourth quarter after slowing from a 7% growth rate early in the year to 6% [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[525,529,526,419,527,528],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loan","tag-amex","tag-cardholders","tag-picked","tag-spending","tag-yearend","tag-younger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}