market to collapse into recession, page-193

U.S. consumers kept up a healthy pace of borrowing in July, boosting their outstanding credit total by $7.5 billion, the Federal Reserve reported Monday, but the increase was slightly smaller than market expectations.

The July increase in borrowing on credit and charge cards and closed-end consumer loans compares to a downwardly revised June increase of $11.9 billion, which was originally reported as a $13.1 billion rise.

Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting an $8.0 billion rise in consumer borrowing for July.

Total consumer credit increased at an annual pace of 3.7 percent in July to $2.457 trillion, following revised increases of 5.9 percent in June and 7.5 percent in May, the Fed said.