JPMorgan Chase said it processed 15% more card payments during Black Friday weekend than it did a year earlier, a sign that the pandemic did little to curtail spending as the holiday shopping season began.

The jump was driven by a surge in purchases on Cyber Monday, when the biggest U.S. bank processed a record 27% more online and mobile payment authorizations than it did on the same day last year, according to data to be released Friday.

That countered a 12% drop in in-store payment authorizations over the weekend as shoppers avoided malls due to concerns about COVID-19.

The figures from JPMorgan, which bills itself as the country’s biggest e-commerce payments processor, offer a glimpse into the state of the U.S. consumer as the pandemic continues to hurt the economy. Visa Inc. said growth in spending on its cards slowed in November as cases of covid-19 surged once again across the nation.

U.S. trade deficit climbs 1.7%

WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit widened 1.7% in October to $63.1 billion. The politically sensitive gap in the trade of goods with China and Mexico grew.

The gap between the goods and services the United States sold and what it bought abroad rose from $62.1 billion in September, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Exports rose 2.2% to $182 billion, led by sales of aircraft engines. Imports increased 2.1% to $245.1 billion on an uptick in shipments of auto parts.

The deficit in the trade of goods with China rose 9% to $26.5 billion and the gap with Mexico rose 10% to $11.8 billion.So far this year, the overall gap in the trade of goods and services with the rest of the world has risen to $536.7 billion, up 9.5% from January-October 2019.

From wire reports