Inflation is at a 40-year high, and this morning, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said that gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 0.9% in the second quarter of the year. That's after GDP declined by 1.6% in the first quarter of the year. Two straight quarters of negative economic growth is considered a technical recession. But one counterpoint to the economic stress is Mastercard's (NYSE: MA) recent second-quarter report, which came in strong and showed that the consumer has not only held up but stayed strong as well. Let's take a look.

Gross dollar volume across Mastercard's huge payments network jumped 14% year over year to $2.1 trillion.

The uptick was driven by a surge in cross-border volume, which jumped 58% year over year, and is now at 139% of 2019 levels. Switched payment volume in the U.S. is now at 146% of 2019 levels and 162% higher outside of the U.S.

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Source Fool.com