A more optimistic economic outlook has resulted in a 6.7% USD volume growth in card spending in October 2012, a report has highlighted.

According to the SpendTrend Analysis by US payments processor First Data, increased spending and a pullback in savings are the main reasons behind this positive result, compared to October 2011.

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However, this was alongside a dip in transaction growth from 5.9% to 6.3% in September.

Average ticket growth was 0.8% in October, a reversal from September’s -0.5%. This was partly due to retailers increasing their prices but also suggested a rise in consumer spending.

For the first time since July, Credit Card spending was greater than PIN and signature debit. Credit dollar volume growth jumped from 2.3% to 8.9% in October.

Hurricane Sandy also had an impact on the figures, with sectors such as Building Material Supply Dealers and Food/Beverage

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Stores in the Northeast seeing a surge in business as consumers stocked up in preparation for the storm. After the hurricane hit these figures tailed off as power cuts kept customers at home.

Rikard Bandebo, vice president and economist, First Data said "Consumers appear to be in a favourable spending mood heading into the holiday season due to recovering housing prices, slight job gains and modest income growth which has buoyed consumer confidence. However, consumers are also reducing their savings to support spend which suggests that current growth rate will not be sustainable in the long term without substantial improvement in the economy."

SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, Electronic Benefit Transfer, closed-loop prepaid cards and cheques at merchant locations across the USA.