Charlotte’s biggest banks say consumer spending is ‘resilient’ — for now
Charlotte's two largest banks, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, say the U.S. economy and consumer spending remain "resilient" despite ongoing market volatility and the impact of the Iran war that could cause cutbacks later this year.
“Our research team continues to see the economy that is resilient, that the core activities economy continue to push along, even with all the uncertainty out there,” Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said Wednesday during the Charlotte-based bank’s first-quarter earnings call. He also noted that the quarter marked the strongest earnings-per-share figure for the company in nearly two decades.
But the health of consumers is increasingly divided, Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said during this week’s first-quarter earnings for the San Francisco-based bank. Wells Fargo has its largest hub of 27,000 employees in Charlotte.
Scharf expects consumers could adjust spending in the second half of the year, reducing non-essential purchases due to continued higher oil and energy prices.
Here’s what each bank said about consumer spending:
Wells Fargo sees spending ‘increasingly bifurcated’
Consumer spending has held up into early 2026, supported by higher-income households, steady wage growth and continued access to credit, Scharf said. Despite this resilience, "confidence indicators and underlying trends point to rising stress for less affluent consumers,” he said. Higher-income households are benefiting from factors like high stock and home prices. Conversely, lower-income households are facing “rising stress” due to higher interest rates and energy costs. The bank is closely monitoring gas price increases, which now account for a slightly larger share of both debit and credit card spending.
“Consumers are spending more than a year ago, which includes spending more on gas, but they haven’t slowed spending on everything else,” Scharf said.
Overall, consumers are spending between 25% and 30% more on gas than they did before the Iran war began, Wells Fargo CFO Mike Santomassimo told reporters Tuesday before the earnings call. “But overall spend continues to be quite resilient,” he said.
Gas spending now represents 7% of the bank’s total debit card spend and 5% of its total credit card spend, an increase from 6% and 4% respectively, before the rise in oil prices. Scharf noted these percentages are higher for lower-income households.
Scharf anticipates a consumer adjustment later in the year. “We have seen historically that it often takes consumers several months to reduce their spend levels on other categories to adjust for higher oil prices,” Scharf said, adding that the bank "would expect to see the same in the second half of the year.”
“We also expect that higher energy prices will impact other goods and services,” Scharf said. “The duration and severity will be driven by the level and duration of higher oil prices.”
Wells Fargo reported first-quarter revenue of $21.45 billion, a 6% increase compared with the same time last year, and net income up 7% to $5.3 billion. Average deposits were reported at $1.415 trillion, up 6% compared with last year. The bank did miss analyst expectations of about $21.79 billion, and is still emerging from the removal of its $2 trillion asset cap punishment related to the 2016 fake-account sales scandal. The bank saw strong customer relationship growth, reporting that new checking account openings rose 15%, credit card accounts surged 60%, and new auto loans are up two times compared to last year.
Bank of America cites underlying consumer strength
Bank of America’s internal data, which captures about 25% of U.S. consumer spending, showed debit and credit card spending was up 6% year over year. Spending increased across several categories, including entertainment, services, travel and retail.
Spending on gas prices increased 16% in March compared to last year, Moynihan said.
Regarding the rise in gas spending, Bank of America Executive Vice President and CFO Alastair Borthwick said the increase “doesn’t alter the underlying consumer strength at this point.”
Borthwick provided context on the consumer base, noting employment and wages have been strong. The lending environment is being supported by a period where unemployment and home prices are good, and savings remain elevated, he said. Borthwick highlighted that the unemployment rate is at 4.3%.
“So all of those things combined, just tell you that you’ve got a resilient consumer,” Borthwick said.
Bank of America analysts acknowledge ongoing risks, Moynihan said, particularly citing conflicts in the Middle East and their implications for inflation and growth. However, the bank projects moderate growth for the U.S. and globally in the next several years, with U.S. GDP growth rates anticipated to hover in the 2% range. The research team projects inflation to remain elevated on both a U.S. and global basis, extending into 2026 and 2027.
Bank of America reported first-quarter revenue of $30.3 billion, a 7% increase year-over-year, and net income of $8.6 billion, up 17%. Deposits rose 3% to $2.02 trillion compared to last year, marking 11 consecutive quarters of growth. The bank also saw significant profit growth in key segments: Consumer banking profits grew 21% to $3.1 billion, and global wealth and investment management profits surged 32% to $1.3 billion.
This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Charlotte’s biggest banks say consumer spending is ‘resilient’ — for now."
