Finance
US consumers slow spending as inflation bites, Synchrony says
By Nupur Anand
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. consumers are starting to curb their spending in response to high prices and a worsening economic outlook, according to consumer finance company Synchrony Financial (SYF).
Americans have been accumulating more debt amid strain in their finances, with delinquencies edging up for auto loans, credit cards and home credit lines, the Federal Reserve said last month.
Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker has also warned that trouble may be brewing for the U.S. economy, which is showing signs of stress in the consumer sector with consumer confidence also waning.
The belt-tightening indicates that Americans, whose finances are broadly healthy, are preparing for their finances to be more stretched, said Max Axler, chief credit officer of Synchrony. Most clients are still keeping up their loan repayments, he added.
“Purchase volumes have gone down across the industry as consumers across all income groups become more thoughtful about spending,” Axler told Reuters.
Synchrony, which issues credit cards in partnership with retailers and merchants, has more than 100 million consumer credit accounts.
U.S. consumer sentiment plunged to a nearly 2-1/2-year low in March as inflation expectations soared. Some economists have warned that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs could boost prices and undercut growth.
Concerns about higher prices have driven consumers’ long-term inflation expectations to levels last seen in early 1993.
Retailers including Target and Walmart have said that shoppers are being careful with their spending, waiting for deals or making tradeoffs to lower-priced items.
Household spending cuts could be a precursor to increasing late credit payments or loan defaults, analysts said. While default rates have remained broadly steady, spending is being watched carefully as an early indicator of deteriorating consumer finances.
Borrowers could also become more cautious, taking out fewer or smaller loans and crimping a key source of revenue for banks. Across the industry, loan growth slowed by 5% to 12% in February versus a year earlier, HSBC analyst Saul Martinez said.
“There is clearly a slowdown, and it shows that the consumer is vulnerable,” Martinez said. “And for banks, slowing loan growth could result in lower net interest income and revenue,” he added.
The concerns about household finances have also weighed on consumer finance stocks with shares of American Express (AXP), Capital One (COF), Synchrony, (SYF) and Discover (DFS) down between 15-22% over the past month, Martinez said.
Finance
Financing opportunity: Q&A with Harold Pettigrew on the future of the CDFI Sector – Kresge Foundation
As the community finance field enters a new era—shaped by economic uncertainty, shifting capital flows, and growing calls for accountability—how can CDFIs prepare for what’s ahead? The Kresge Foundation spoke with Harold Pettigrew, the president and CEO of the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) to help answer that question. This article is part of a series highlighting the impact of CDFIs and how the sector is adapting to the current environment.
MD: CDFIs play a unique role in our financial ecosystem, often serving communities that mainstream banks overlook. Why are CDFIs so critical for advancing economic growth and creating opportunities in underserved communities?
HP: In every corner of America, CDFIs show that impact and financial performance aren’t at odds—they reinforce each other. We address market gaps and go where traditional capital doesn’t: listening first, solving for need, and providing capital to people and financing projects that strengthen families and communities. Whether it’s a small business on Main Street or a housing development in a rural town, CDFIs make investments that build wealth and create opportunities that reach people and communities that need it most.
MD: CDFIs seem to have broad support in Congress, even when some administrations have looked to reduce funding or support. Is bipartisan support materially different today? What role has OFN played in telling the CDFI story and maintaining that support?
HP: Bipartisan support for CDFIs remains strong because our work cuts across political divides — we’re about creating jobs, building businesses and revitalizing communities. What’s different today is the urgency and scale of the need, and the growing recognition that CDFIs are essential partners in solving some of our nation’s toughest challenges. OFN and CDFIs tell real stories of impact—stories of people across the country whose lives and livelihoods have changed thanks to the capital provided by CDFIs. Through advocacy, research, and direct engagement with policymakers, we’ve elevated a clear, consistent message: For over 30 years, CDFIs have delivered results addressing market gaps in providing access to capital to communities across the country.
MD: Beyond federal funding concerns, what are the current challenges and needs CDFIs are facing in their day-to-day efforts to support communities?
HP: CDFIs are navigating a complex economic environment— rising interest rates, tighter capital markets, and growing community needs are stretching our resources like never before. Many CDFIs are being asked to do more with less, while also investing in their own operations to scale effectively and sustainably. OFN is working to develop diverse pools of flexible capital, make deeper investments in talent and technology, and new policy frameworks that support and recognize the unique value CDFIs bring. The demand is clear — what’s needed now is bold investments to meet the moment and craft new solutions for the future.
MD: Philanthropies and community development departments of banks and insurance companies have always been crucial partners for CDFIs — how can they best support and invest in CDFIs right now?
HP: Our partners in philanthropy and financial services have been critical to the success of CDFIs, and now they have a critical opportunity to strengthen the CDFI industry for the future. That means moving beyond transactional grantmaking to long-term, trust-based partnerships. It means offering flexible, risk-tolerant capital that lets CDFIs innovate and expand, and it means investing in the infrastructure — people, systems, data — that helps us operate at scale.
MD: What keeps you optimistic about the future of the CDFI sector?
HP: What keeps me optimistic is the impact and commitment I see every day, from the entrepreneurs we finance, to the communities we serve, to the CDFI leaders innovating with courage and conviction. The sector is growing, diversifying and deepening its impact. We’re not just responding to the moment — we’re helping define the future of expanded access to finance and financial services. And with every new loan, every new partnership, every life changed, we’re proving that when we expand access to opportunity — we don’t just finance projects, we shape the future of communities across the country.
Harold Pettigrew is the President and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network (OFN)
Derek Kudsee is a veteran of the enterprise software industry, with senior leadership roles at industry giants such as SAP, Salesforce, and Microsoft under his belt. So, when he took the helm as the new Managing Director for Unit4 Financials by Coda, ERP Today sat down with Kudsee to discuss his vision for Coda, the promise of agentic AI to make work feel lighter for finance teams, and his mission to transform the classic system of record into a dynamic system of intelligence for the Office of the CFO.
What was it about the opportunity at Unit4, and specifically the challenge of modernizing Coda, that convinced you to take this role?
A rare combination of having a deeply trusted platform and a clear opportunity to reimagine the finance function drew me to Unit4, and specifically the Coda business. Some of the largest enterprise customers have been running on this platform for decades. I’ve been brought in to help these finance teams run more efficiently and provide greater insight through agent-driven automation. We live in a world where technology has converged in our consumer and professional lives. Therefore, modernization is not only about addressing complex systems, but also about enhancing the user experience. This combination of running a deeply trusted platform, reimagining its capabilities in an AI-driven world, and modernizing the user experience was attractive.
Unit4 Financials by Coda’s goal is to deliver an “AI-fueled office for the CFO” using agentic AI. How will a finance team using Coda experience this in their day-to-day work?
When one thinks of an AI-fueled Office of the CFO, it’s about having agents deep inside those finance processes that will suggest, explain, and act within guardrails that finance teams can set. The work should feel like the machine is performing tasks that were previously done manually or laboriously.
A simple example is in an accounts payable department. An agent can automate everything from invoice capture using AI-driven OCR, verify that the invoices are within policy, queue them for approval, send them to the respective individuals, and flag exceptions along the way. Users can see how the work feels lighter because the machine handles everything from capture to the final stage, including payment release.
How do the AI functionalities offered by Coda differ from what competitors are offering right now?
Many vendors today have a finance module. However, we aim to be the best standalone financial management system, not a generic suite. We’re not trying to be finance because we want to sell an HR or CRM system. That means we need to embed intelligence deeply within the finance processes so that the software acts, takes action, and performs activities for the finance function. For that, the agentic AI needs to operate with autonomy, understand financial context, and learn from user behavior.
Moreover, fundamentally, Coda has always been built on a unified financial model. We’ve never had Accounts Payable separate from Accounts Receivable that needed to be consolidated. Our AI works on clean, structured data from day one, and that’s the foundation for accuracy. We don’t need to chase hype to incorporate AI. We’re going to redefine the finance function with AI at its core.
How do you plan to balance the introduction of these cutting-edge innovations without disrupting the core stability that Coda is known for?
The safest way to modernize finance is to add certainty around the core, rather than disrupting it. Our core is why customers have been running Coda for 20-30 years. Thus, stability is not a nice-to-have; it’s non-negotiable. Our customers run mission-critical processes, and that trust is sacred to us. Therefore, every innovation we deliver, whether it’s UX modernization or AI, will be built on one simple principle: if it compromises stability, we don’t build it. We don’t ship it.
With that rock-solid foundation in place, we can layer intelligence and usability on top. While some software providers are still determining the stability of their platform, we can offer customers the best of both worlds. They’ll have the reliability they’ve counted on for decades, and now we bring them the innovation they need to stay ahead.
What This Means for ERP Insiders
Your biggest enemy is decision latency. According to Kudsee, the primary challenge for modern finance is the gap between a business event occurring and the ability to respond intelligently. This decision latency, caused by fragmented data, batch processes, and manual workarounds that are standard in traditional ERP environments, prevents finance from being a proactive and strategic partner. Coda’s goal is to shrink that gap from weeks or days to near-real-time.
Shift the ERP mindset from system of record to system of intelligence. For decades, the primary function of ERP finance modules has been to record transactions accurately. This is no longer sufficient, as Kudsee notes. A modern financial platform must function as a system of intelligence that not only records data but also analyzes, predicts, and automates actions within core financial processes, effectively acting as the intelligent brain of the CFO’s office.
Prioritize financial depth over suite breadth. Kudsee suggests that the single ERP for everything strategy can result in a finance module that is a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. The alternative approach is to prioritize depth and best-in-class functionality for the critical finance function. Instead of settling for the generic finance module within a larger suite, consider how a dedicated platform like Unit4 Financials for Coda, focused on deep financial control, insight, and automation, can deliver more agility and tackle core challenges, such as decision latency, more effectively.
Finance
‘Worst kind of setup for the Fed’: What Wall Street is saying about the central bank’s next rate decision
Weak labor market data overshadowed a sticky inflation print last week, keeping investor expectations intact that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its policy meeting on Wednesday.
Government data released Thursday showed that consumer prices rose 0.4% in August from the previous month, an uptick from July’s 0.2% increase. Meanwhile, separate data showed weekly jobless claims rising to 263,000 — the highest in nearly four years, up from a revised 236,000 the prior week.
The Fed weighs its dual mandate of full employment and price stability when deciding whether to change interest rates. Given the dynamic of a slowing jobs market coupled with sticky price increases, Wall Street strategists told Yahoo Finance that the Fed has a complicated decision ahead.
“It’s the worst kind of setup for the Fed,” Claudia Sahm, New Century Advisors chief economist and former Federal Reserve Board economist, told Yahoo Finance. “They will not be cutting because we have good news on inflation. They’ll be cutting because we have bad news on employment.”
Sahm expects the Federal Reserve to cut rates by 25 basis points during its two-day meeting this week. She noted, though, that inflation is “still too firm.”
Other strategists agreed: “Inflation is still elevated. It’s been elevated, and it’s moving in the wrong direction right now,” Collin Martin, fixed income strategist at Schwab Center for Financial Research, told Yahoo Finance.
Sticky inflation may keep the Fed cautious after September, RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas said.
“Yes, you’re going to get your rate cut out there in trading land,” Brusuelas told Yahoo Finance. “But I have to tell you, the underlying tenor of the data doesn’t suggest that it’s a lock that you’re going to get three rate cuts before the end of the year.”
Read more: How jobs, inflation, and the Fed are all related
As of Friday, investors were pricing in a 76% probability of three rate cuts this year, according to the CME FedWatch, as the labor market shows increasing cracks.
Thursday’s jobless claims data was the latest to underscore the slowdown. A sweeping jobs revision released earlier this week showed the US employed 911,000 fewer people between April 2024 and March 2025 than originally reported.
Still, the slowdown doesn’t appear to be pushing the economy over a cliff.
“We’re not getting this hard landing like collapse in the job market,” Economic Cycle Research Institute co-founder Lakshman Achuthan said. “This could get rough at some point … but it’s not yet.”
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