Profit surges at American Express with US spending resilient

NEW YORK (AP) — American Express had a very strong third quarter, posting a profit of $1.78 billion with Americans continuing to prove resilient in their spending despite the tenacity of the delta variant, as well as global supply chain issues. The New York company on Friday topped last year’s profit of $1.1 billion profit during the same period. It has been feared that the prevalence of COVID-19 in some regions of the country, particularly the highly contagious delta variant, would chill consumer spending in the U.S. That has not been the case, however. Last week, the U.S. reported that retail sales surged 0.7% in September, far stronger than economists had expected.