Spending accelerating

Earlier this month we published a Daily Sketch about US consumer sentiment reaching its lowest point ever recorded and how the correlation between actual retail spending and sentiment is surprisingly weak. Payments processor Visa confirms this with newly published figures about US payments volume growth. Last night, the payments behemoth – the firm processed USD 14.2 trillion in 2025 – reported volume growth accelerated to about 9.0% in the US so far in April up from an average of 7.5% in Q1 of this year. Within this, credit volumes rose 10.0% so far in April outpacing debit which grew 8.5%. When analyzing consumer behavior an often used phrase is: look at what they do, not what they say.

Source: Visa, April 2026.