As you might have heard by now, the U.S. economy has been trending towards recession for several months. However, this prediction isn’t unanimous. For example, American Express CEO Stephen Squeri believes the situation isn’t as bad as it seems.
American Express recently shared a positive second-quarter report that shows the company recording a 31% increase in sale numbers compared to 2021 while also beating the Wall Street estimates with room to spare. This included $13.4 billion in net sales compared to $12.51 billion expected and $2.57 diluted earnings per share vs. $2.39 estimated.
Speaking with Yahoo Finance, Squeri said that these numbers are making it hard for him to recognize that a recession is coming.
“We’re acquiring spending, and we see future travel bookings [strong] so I don’t see it in my numbers at all,” Squeri said. ” … It’s really hard for me to get my head around that in quarter three or quarter four we’re going to have a big slowdown.”
After the company disclosed its Q2 numbers, the Amex stock jumped 6% on Friday morning after closing at $150.21 per share on Thursday. However, the surge proved to be short-lived as the shares dropped to $153.01 by the end of the day.