U.S. Consumer Credit Jumps to Most Since 2007

U.S. consumer credit borrowing in June jumped to highest numbers since August 2007, the Federal Reserve announced today.

U.S. consumer credit debt hit $15.5 billion, over three times more than estimates and the highest in over four years.The numbers were also three times better than the amount borrowed in the month of May.

This could be a result of high unemployment, low amount of new jobs, and more people deciding to stay in school, thus racking up more financial debt.

The announcement comes on the same day that the U.S. Department of Labor announced better than expected job numbers. The United States added 117,000 jobs, beating average estimate of 88,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent.

The announcements, along with European bank announcements, caused stock markets to suffer severe ups and downs over the course of the day. The Dow Jones was up 35 points as of 3:30 p.m., but at one point was down as much as 270 points.

A day earlier, on Thursday, the Dow Jones dropped more than 500 points, its worst plunge since the 2008 banking crisis.

Credit companies American Express and MasterCard both posted profits this quarter. American Express posted a $1.3 billion profit in its earnings announcement on July 21^st.