American Express CEO: April's stock market volatility hasn't sent customers into their bunkers

Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 5:26 AM 2 min read

If April's stock market volatility has American Express (AXP) customers down in the dumps, they aren't showing it in how they spend.

"Through the first 10 to 12 days, it's [spending] as strong as it was last quarter, maybe slightly, slightly stronger, and credit still continues to look really good," American Express CEO Stephen Squeri told me by phone on Thursday.

Amex reported much-better-than-expected first quarter earnings and maintained its full-year guidance.

The report comes as the likes of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned about a Trump tariff-driven US recession, while other companies have yanked their guidance due to uncertainty.

Stocks have whipsawed this month amid the tariff volatility, calling into question whether households with market exposure would continue to spend at a healthy clip. Those on the lower end without much market exposure could opt to pull back as they are hit with higher prices soon.

Read more: 7 ways to recession-proof your savings

Squeri said it just didn't make sense to yank his guidance, as the business is holding steady.

"It's probably easy to pull guidance, but what are you going to pull if you know you're still within your guidance range?" Squeri added.

Amex stock fell slightly in premarket trading to $248.57 per share.

• Net sales: +7% year over year to $16.97 billion, vs. estimate of $16.96 billion

• Credit Losses: -8% year over year to $1.2 billion, vs. estimate for $1.38 billion

• Diluted EPS: +9% year over year to $3.64, vs. estimate of $3.49

• 2025 net sales guidance: +8% to +10%

• 2025 diluted EPS guidance: $15.00 to $15.50 vs. estimate for $15.23

• Q1 2025 charge-off rate: 2.4% versus 2.3% last year

• 30-days past due rate: 1.3% versus 1.3% last year

Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.

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