US consumer credit up 6.2% in October

U.S. consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 6.2 percent in October, the U.S. Federal Reserve reported Friday. Total consumer borrowing rose from a revised 2.7393 trillion U. S. dollars in September to a record 2.7535 trillion dollars in October, the central bank said in a report. Revolving debt, the type which includes credit cards, rose to 857.6 billion dollars in October, up 4.7 percent at an annual rate from the revised 854.2 billion dollars in September. In October, the borrowing in the nonrevolving category that includes auto and student loans, rose at an annual rate of 6.9 percent to 1.8958 trillion dollars. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the overall U.S. economic activity, is the major engine of U.S. economic growth. A rise in consumer credit indicated consumers increased their borrowing to make purchases. But the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment showed that consumer confidence fell sharply to a four-month low this month amid "fiscal cliff" worries.