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On the heels of better-than-expected economic reports, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has raised its estimate of real U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 to a sizzling 5.3% annual rate. If this holds when the Commerce Department starts issuing its estimates next month, it officially suggests a continuing and remarkable rebound since the start of last year, when the economy was actually shrinking. Even before the start of what promises to be a historically robust season for tax refunds, U.S. consumers seem to be flush. As the country’s largest banks report rising profits, the Journal’s Gina Heeb and Alexander Saeedy note: American consumers continued to spend and borrow at a healthy clip at the end of 2025, despite a year marked by uncertainty around job security, tariffs and stubborn inflation… “All of the metrics that we can see tell us the consumer remains resilient and in great shape,” Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick said on a call with reporters. Borthwick said the bank isn’t seeing signs people are borrowing significantly more, or saving less. Citigroup’s CFO said he isn’t seeing a lot of disparity across income brackets on credit-card delinquencies. Meanwhile Bryan Mena reports at CNN:
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