Amex Down and Out As Recession Reaches the Wealthy

After reporting less than stellar earnings on Tuesday shares of American Express have taken a dive. What is causing the charge card giant to fall on hard times? Well, the short and sweet answer is simply the economy.

American Express is suffering due to a combination an increase in defaults and a decreased use of cards. This signals that the recession could be creeping its way into the lives of wealthy, as American Express has traditionally catered to the upper-crust of American society.

I'm pretty interested to see how this plays out as rising inflation and other economic conditions make the wealthy more adverse to using their American Express cards, which balances must be paid off in full each month.