American Express Announces Drop In Defaults

Yesterday, American Express Co. had the second-biggest gain on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after announcing that loan defaults fell in October for the sixth consecutive month.

The United States’ biggest credit card issuer (by purchases) also said that write-offs for uncollectible loans were down 7.8% year-over-year, versus 8.4% in September. Total loans that are at least 30 days past due stood flat at 4.1%. American Express forecasts that spending trends will improve in the fourth quarter of 2009 over the third quarter, when total card spending was down 11% y-o-y.