From Bloomberg:
European stocks fell for the first time in six days as rising credit-card defaults at American Express Co. dragged financial shares lower. Asian shares rose, while U.S. index futures fluctuated between gains and losses. BNP Paribas SA and Barclays Plc slipped more than 3 percent after American Express, the largest credit-card company by purchases, reported higher delinquency rates.
Almost three-quarters of U.S. companies with fewer than 500 employees are experiencing a deterioration in credit or credit- card terms at a time when half of them depend on credit cards as a primary source of financing, according to a December survey by the National Small Business Association, a trade group with more than 150,000 members.
The increase in credit-card costs has forced some business owners to stop using their cards, and at the same time declining credit limits are cutting their access to cash...
