August 2025 Market Pulse: What You Need to Know Now About Market Trends & Fighting Fraud

Highlights: 

• The August 2025 Market Pulse webinar highlighted shifts in the U.S. economy, including low consumer sentiment, rising prices affecting middle-income households, and growing employment security anxiety despite stable unemployment rates.

• Fraud has increased significantly in recent years and is becoming more complex and interconnected, requiring robust technology, data solutions, and industry-wide collaboration to combat effectively, especially with the anticipated impact of generative AI.

The U.S. economy is shifting in some major ways. From rising prices to lowered consumer sentiment and a housing market that’s struggling to keep up with demand, several key factors are shaping how businesses and families move forward. 

During our August 2025 Market Pulse webinar, our expert panel discussed emerging fraud trends in the auto industry, plus the biggest trends to watch in the U.S. market. 

Below, we break down the top four key economic trends from our August 2025 Market Pulse webinar as well as five things you need to know about fighting fraud effectively. 

Be sure to register for September’s webinar, so you have first access to the most up-to-date trends and data. 

Top Four Trends from the Current U.S. Economic Picture

To open the conversation, Dr. Amy Crews Cutts, President & Chief Economist at AC Cutts & Associates, shared a macroeconomic update, dissecting the latest market changes and trends to watch, from the consumer sentiment to the labor market.

1. Consumers are still feeling down about the economy. 

Consumer sentiment remains low, nearing 2008 financial crisis levels, indicating widespread concern about the economic outlook.

2. Rising prices are having big impacts, especially on middle-income households. 

Rising prices are disproportionately impacting middle-income households, and a continued reliance on high-income consumer spending to drive the economy presents a potential risk.

3. The worry about employment security is growing.  

Despite low unemployment rates, consumer anxiety about job security is significantly increasing, reaching levels typically seen during economic downturn periods.

4. Headline-generating layoff announcements have not impacted the unemployment rate yet, but hiring could be slacking off. 

While widely publicized layoff announcements from major companies are prevalent, the overall data does not yet show a significant increase in layoffs across the broader labor market, though the pace of hiring has slowed.

Five Things Lenders Need to Know about Fighting Fraud

Technological innovations have facilitated growth in all areas of business, something that has, unfortunately, extended to fraud capabilities as well. In August’s webinar, Sanjiv Yajnik, President of Financial Services at Capital One, engaged in an insightful discussion with Equifax Advisory Leader Emmaline Aliff on how emerging fraud trends are impacting the auto industry and what all lenders should know about combatting it. 

1. Fraud is significantly impacting the auto industry and financial services at large. 

Fraud has increased by nearly 400% since 2019, affecting both dealers and consumers by increasing costs and eroding tight margins.

2. Fraud instances are interconnected and require comprehensive detection. 

Fraudulent activities are rarely isolated; they are often linked, making it difficult for humans to identify patterns, emphasizing the need for systems that can piece together these connections across transactions.

3. No single fraud type dominates the industry, and generative AI will exacerbate the problem.

Fraud is widespread and rapidly evolving across all categories. The emergence of generative AI is expected to cause a massive and unpredictable increase in fraud, making it difficult to focus on specific types.

4. Robust technology and data solutions are crucial for combating fraud.

Due to the scale and complexity of fraud attacks, human judgment alone is insufficient. Businesses, especially auto dealers, must seriously leverage technological tools and data to get ahead of this trend.

4. Industry-wide collaboration is essential to fight fraud.

To effectively combat fraud, auto lenders, dealers, and tech companies must cooperate and share information. Individual efforts to avoid fraud while withholding data are ultimately detrimental to the entire industry, as costs and impacts will spread.

Keep Your Business Goals Within Sight

Need your business to run better and more efficiently? Reach out at riskadvisors@equifax.com.  

We hope you will join us for our September 2025 Market Pulse webinar, taking place on Thursday, September 18, 2025, where our talented and dynamic panel will discuss the latest trends in the mortgage industry. To ask questions in real time and gain deeper insights before anyone else, you have to be there. Don’t miss it!

Interested in learning how personalized insights can drive your business forward? Sign up for a complimentary 60-minute Market Pulse Advisory with one of our experts. 

Find our monthly Small Business Insights, National Consumer Credit Trends reports, the Market Pulse podcast, and more at our Market Pulse hub. 

Broaden your perspective with insights that inspire bold innovation, confident adaptation, and decisive leadership through our Trends and Insights resources. 

Finally, connect with us on YouTube and LinkedIn for even deeper insights.

Source: 

1. Equifax, August 2025 Market Pulse Webinar