Bank of America's customers spent about 4% more in August than they did in the same month last year, after 5% growth the quarter before.
Jim Cramer opened the show arguing that oil above $100 a barrel is finally reaching the American consumer, and that the selling in retail stocks proves it. Brian Moynihan, who sees the card and checking data of the nation's second largest bank by assets, said his own numbers show a consumer still spending, still employed and still paying on time.
"The U.S. economy predicted growth in the mid-twos this year, and we don't see anything in its way. Even with Fed hiking rates, we still see the economy growing through that."
Moynihan is chairman and chief executive of Bank of America, which splits its own customer data into lower, middle and upper income thirds so it can see what each group is earning and spending, and he was on his way downtown when the first plane hit on 11 September 2001.
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Here are the 9 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guest: Brian Moynihan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of America
🎙️ Host: Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money and manager of the CNBC Investing Club's charitable trust
📰 Published: 9 September 2026 on CNBC
🔴 CNBC | ⏱️ 44 min
Key Takeaways
Bank of America's customers spent about 4% more in August than a year earlier, and 5% more the quarter before
Moynihan said that pace is consistent with a strong growing economy
Record credit-card balances are being compared against an economy that is 40% bigger
The Federal Reserve's delinquency series keeps borrowers who were charged off two years ago in the data
The charge-off rates lenders actually see are as low as they have been in many years, he said
Wage growth in the lowest-income third of customers is running about 3.5% to 4%, and their spending is rising with it
The bank has not cut its 2K-a-year summer intern class because of AI
It is moving new hires around more instead, which he called redeployment
Merrill Edge adds about 10% more customers a year at an average starting balance above $100K
3K-plus people work full time on cybersecurity, and the cost is not allowed to be argued about internally
He said AI finds vulnerabilities unbelievably fast, and will eventually harden systems just as fast
The bank helped finance the rebuilding of midtown Manhattan with Liberty Bonds when nobody else would invest
1. 9/11 And The Rebuild
Cramer opened on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, noting that Bank of America has made new commitments to organizations that support victims, first responders and their families. Moynihan answered with the bank's own history downtown.
The building the interview was recorded in sits at what he called America's epicenter of the financial markets, and the job after the attack was to get the securities market started again
Merrill Lynch, FleetBoston, U.S. Trust and Bank of America were separate firms that day and are one company now
On what the industry did that week: "And all of us worked in this industry who are fierce competitors work together to say, how can we get the securities markets back up?" Corporate issuers told the bank they would buy back stock on Monday
He was on his way downtown when the plane hit: "It was terrorism at its worst because they took something as ordinary as flying and turned it into terrorist act."
His summary of what followed: "But it was a story of resiliency, unity among the country and just fabulous personal stories of recovery and resiliency, horrible stories of loss and grief."
On the neighborhood now: "Kids are back down here running around. It's just a whole different place than it was in the aftermath."
The Liberty Bonds
Moynihan said the bank built its Bryant Park tower — a 51-floor building it occupied by 2007 or 2008 — using Liberty Bonds, the financing created to rebuild Manhattan "because nobody was investing in Manhattan." He put the bank's giving to veterans and first responders at "probably $100 million" over the last 15 years, including a recent grant to Tunnels to Towers.
2. Spending Up 4%
Cramer said Moynihan has the best data in the country and asked what it shows. Moynihan answered by listing what would be true if the economy were in trouble, then showing that none of it is.
The first test is spending: "Consumers spent in the month of august about 4% more than they spent last august, which is a pretty good month because that's after liberation day and the recovery last quarter, it was 5%."
His read of that pace: "So it's ticking along. That's consistent with a strong growing economy."
The second test is credit, and he said, "Our credit statistics are as good as they've been for years," naming charge-offs and consumer delinquencies on credit cards
On the headline that card balances are at records: "You hear about record outstanding balances of credit cards, but the economy is 40% bigger." He said what people are looking at is a recovery back to trend
3. Where Rates Actually Bite
Business credit is the third leg, and Moynihan separated the borrowers that higher rates reach from the ones they do not.
Companies are drawing on lines of credit and investing, though he said investment has been slower to return since the pandemic because of uncertainty over trade and tariffs
The pain point is not large corporates: "And the place that higher rates affect is small or medium sized business." Those are the borrowers who use lines of credit, where the short-term rate structure passes straight through
Credit quality on those lines is good, he said, and in a world where a lot of things are changing the borrowers "figured out a path forward"
The one thing they still raise is gasoline, and what it does to the price of the products they sell
4. A 30% Earnings Quarter
Cramer called the bank's recent results growth-stock numbers. Moynihan agreed and immediately set expectations against them.
"Yeah they would our earnings were up 30% and things like that. You know we had a great quarter. What's interesting is that level you know will be hard to sustain the growth rate at that level."
Index levels have held up, which he said is good for the wealth management business
Investment banking fees have bounced around against a busy prior year
What he said he feels good about is deposit growth, loan growth, employment and wages — and he added that the K-shaped split between high and low earners has converged a little
5. The Bottom Third's Raise
Cramer put it to him that the most recent numbers are encouraging for people who are less well off. Moynihan agreed, and did not pretend the cost side had gone away.
He acknowledged the affordability problem in plain terms — gas prices "are up a dollar a gallon or whatever the labor day," plus rents — and said those pressures have been mitigating over time while pay catches up
The bank splits its customer data into lower, middle and upper income thirds
On the bottom third: "You're seeing wage growth of about three and a half to 4%, and you're seeing spending growth come up with that. That's very good because that's a lot of people."
He read that as households feeling good about their position, with unemployment very low
6. The Fed Data Problem
This is where Moynihan disagreed outright with a widely quoted series. Cramer said the credit situation has been made to sound worrying when the pie is simply bigger.
"Well, the statistics that drives me crazy is the Fed reports these delinquencies. But if you were charged off two years ago, you're still in the Fed's data."
The rates lenders themselves see, he said, "are as low as they've been in many years"
He said the bank is being as aggressive on granting credit as it can while staying judicious and responsible
On what could break it: "There's a parade of horribles out there. The Iran war doesn't solve fast. The Ukraine-Russia war doesn't solve fast. There's escalation of Southeast Asian issues or something."
Against that list he set his forecast: "The U.S. economy predicted growth in the mid-twos this year, and we don't see anything in its way. Even with Fed hiking rates, we still see the economy growing through that."
7. 2,000 Interns, AI Or Not
Cramer asked whether AI has cut the number of offers the bank makes to young people, or made each hire so productive that it wants to keep hiring.
The class has not been cut: "We hire about, call it 2000 summer interns a year," recruited from 400 schools
What has changed is what happens after: the bank moves people around more, which he called redeployment, and said showing them where they can go is management's responsibility
He accepted that AI makes an investment-banking analyst more effective, and said there are thousands of other jobs talented people can do, plus more business to be done with the productivity gained
Relaying what Uber's chief executive said two years ago, Moynihan quoted the line he now repeats to staff: "You may lose your job to somebody who knows how to use it." His instruction to young hires is to learn it
The incoming class is the first to have used AI through their entire college career, so the framing of AI as a change means nothing to them
8. Merrill Edge Vs Robinhood
Cramer asked whether firms that recruit young customers through crypto or gambling and later hold their retirement accounts are a threat to the bank. Moynihan pointed at his own product.
Merrill Edge adds about 10% more customers each year, and he said the "average starting balance is 100,000 plus dollars," which he characterized as a more substantial investor
He recalled announcing zero-commission equity trades at Bank of America securities when he last rang the bell, which he put at 2006
His answer to the whole question was a sequence rather than a product: "I think the key is to get people to budget, save and then save for retirement." He said he told a young man recently that maximizing the 401(k) is the answer
9. 3,000 On Cyber
Cramer said Bank of America puts more emphasis on cybersecurity than almost any company in the world, and asked how it feels to watch what machines can now do.
"Well, we're lucky that we have a very talented group of 3000 plus people working on this full time."
Internally the cost is not up for debate. He said the allocation goes to business-line leaders and they are told not to argue about it
On the new tools: "These new tools present interesting questions, the way that they can find vulnerabilities fast is unbelievable and they're good at it"
The bank runs those tools with frontier model providers against open-source, closed-source and proprietary software to find its own weaknesses
He relayed an expert's reassurance that the same capability cuts both ways: "On the other side of this is this will also help you harden your systems faster."
On the model companies themselves: "And I think the companies that make these models are starting to realize they've got to be much more careful about the guardrails and things, and they're trying to figure out how to slow that down." He was careful to say that means slowing the harm, not the ingenuity
Bonus Insights
Cramer noted before the interview that Bank of America stock is up 14% year to date, and closed the segment calling it a great stock
Moynihan pushed back on Cramer's description of him as a soft touch: "Well, we're a hard business people, but we have a hard"
He said his daughter lived downtown for several years, which is part of why the neighborhood's recovery reads differently to him now
The interview was recorded earlier the same day at the New York Stock Exchange rather than aired live
Moynihan's bottom line is that the data his bank actually collects — spending, wages, charge-offs, business lines of credit — shows an economy growing in the mid-2% range with a lower-income consumer whose pay is finally rising faster than before, and that the credit alarm being sounded elsewhere is an artifact of how the Federal Reserve reports delinquencies.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Bank of America (Moynihan's bank, the nation's second largest by assets; up 14% year to date per Cramer, with earnings up 30% in the most recent quarter)
Merrill Edge (The bank's self-directed brokerage, adding about 10% more customers a year at an average starting balance above $100,000 — his answer to the threat from newer trading apps)
Robinhood (Cited by Cramer, with 28 million accounts, as the kind of platform that recruits young customers through crypto or gambling and later holds their retirement money)
Merrill Lynch, FleetBoston and U.S. Trust (Separate firms on 11 September 2001, all now inside Bank of America — the reason he described the bank's legacy downtown as several companies' legacy)
Tunnels to Towers (Recipient of a recently announced grant, part of what he put at roughly $100 million for veterans and first responders over 15 years)
Uber (Its chief executive supplied the line Moynihan now repeats internally about losing your job to someone who knows how to use AI)
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