Big banks are doing pretty well.

From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshore in for David Bruncaccio.

Earning season kicked off with the major banks this week.

Three today, one yesterday.

Banks see and feel a lot of economic data because that's where everyone keeps their money.

So let's get into it with Susan Schmidt.

She's portfolio manager at Exchange Capital Resources. Good morning. Good morning. So, you know, we are in an

uncertain economic moment. So many factors at play. And banks are here the first to report in

the fourth quarter. How are they doing? We had three big banks report today. Bank of America,

Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Bank of America, City Group, and Wells Fargo.

Bank of America and Citigroup both exceeded analyst estimates. Wells Fargo came in slightly below analyst estimates, but overall, not bad. Were banks worried about President Trump's demand to bring

down credit card interest rates to 10%, about half of what they are now.

Financial services companies are keyed in on this issue because that's a big part of how they manage their

business and how they manage to extend credit, trying to balance out loans that possibly go bad

and consumers who default versus loans in an ongoing

business that they're able to make and keep loaning to consumers who can borrow but still

stay healthy. We got retail sales numbers this morning for November. Retail sales increased

six-tenths of a percent in that month, more than analysts expected. What do you

think is behind that? We're seeing some uptick in consumer confidence. There seems to be a settling

out. There's no more doom and gloom overlay, apparently. And that is good for Main Street,

that consumers are out shopping. It's also good for just general underlying

sentiment that keeps the economy functioning. Susan Schmidt, portfolio manager at Exchange

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