Starting to see signs of middle- and lower-income consumers getting squeezed: Liz Everett Krisberg

• US consumer spending, including credit and debit cards, surged 4.8% year-over-year in April, marking the strongest pace in three years.
• Excluding gas, spending still grew by 4%, an acceleration from previous months, suggesting broad strength beyond fuel price inflation.
• The resilience in spending is uneven; higher-income consumers' wages are growing faster than their spending, while lower- and middle-income consumers face a squeeze as their wage increases are less than half of their spending growth.
• Lower-income consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending, and while credit card utilization is ticking up for this group, overall levels are not yet considered dangerous.

Bank of America's April Consumer Checkpoint Report indicates a robust 4.8% year-over-year increase in household card spending, the strongest in three years, with a 4% rise even excluding gas. However, this resilience is uneven, as higher-income consumers' wages outpace their spending, while lower- and middle-income households are experiencing a squeeze due to wage growth lagging spending increases.