PARIS: US credit card spending on luxury brands fell for a third consecutive month in September, retail lender Citi said on Tuesday, signalling further weakness in the industry's biggest market as the US heads into the November 3 midterm elections.

Buffeted by prolonged weakness in China and the economic fallout of the Iran war, luxury brands have pinned hopes on resilient demand from wealthy US shoppers, including a growing cohort of AI millionaires, to offset softer sales elsewhere and help lift the sector out of a prolonged downturn.

While continued wealth growth among affluent consumers supported the top-end of the market in September, overall US luxury credit card purchases fell 6.0 per cent from a year earlier, after declining 4.0 per cent in both July and August, Citi analysts said in a research note.