Consumer borrowing surges by $20.4B


January 10, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

Consumer borrowing surges by $20.4B

washington

Americans are feeling confident enough in the economy to go back to a time-honored tradition — taking on a little extra debt.

Consumer borrowing surged in November by $20.4 billion, the Federal Reserve said Monday. It was the third-straight increase and the largest monthly gain in a decade.

The jump in borrowing was largely because people took out more loans to buy cars and swiped their credit cards often to buy holiday gifts.

Calm on Wall Street

Stocks drifted higher Monday in a fourth-consecutive listless session. Traders waited for corporate financial results to start rolling in so they could look for clues about the economy.

In the unofficial kickoff to earnings season, Alcoa, considered an economic bellwether because so many companies use its products, said it lost $34 million from October through December because of lower demand for aluminum. The loss amounted to 3 cents per share. Analysts had expected a loss of 2 cents per share.

Vindicator wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .66, 21.25 —0.20

Avalon Holdings,2.70—0.20

Clear Channel, .78 62.40 +0.56

Cortland Bancorp, 6.600.00

Farmers Nat.5.05 +0.08

First Energy, 2.20, 42.40+0.19

FirstMerit Corp., .64,15.78 +0.33

First Niles Financial, .32,7.980.00

First Place Fin., 0.65—0.15

FNB Corp., .48,12.15+0.14

General Motors,22.84—0.08

General Electric, .68,18.86+0.21

Motors Liquidation, 0.04220.00

Huntington Bank, .16, 5.8550+0.0550

JP Morgan Chase, 1.00,35.30—0.06

Key Corp, .12,7.99+0.01

LaFarge, 8.38 —0.10

Macy’s, .40, 34.46—0.10

Parker Hannifin, 1.48, 78.82+1.18

PNC, 1.40,60.40+0.49

RTI Intl. Metals,23.41+0.06

Simon Prop. Grp.,3.60,126.72—0.10

Stoneridge 9.15 +0.07

United Community Fin. 1.28—0.02

Selected prices at 4 p.m. Monday. Provided by Stifel Nicolaus. Not to be construed as an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security.