U.S. Consumer Confidence Jumps To Highest Level In Almost A Year
August 30 2016 - 06:22AM
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After reporting a marginal decline in U.S. consumer confidence
in the previous month, the Conference Board released a report on
Tuesday showing that consumer confidence rebounded strongly in the
month of August.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped
to 101.1 in August from a downwardly revised 96.7 in July.
Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged compared
to the 97.3 originally reported for the previous month.
With the substantial increase, the consumer confidence index
reached its highest level since September of last year.
"Consumers' assessment of both current business and labor market
conditions was considerably more favorable than last month," said
Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at the Conference
Board.
She added, "Short-term expectations regarding business and
employment conditions, as well as personal income prospects, also
improved, suggesting the possibility of a moderate pick-up in
growth in the coming months."
Reflecting the improved assessment of current conditions, the
present situation index climbed to 123.0 in August from 118.8 in
July.
The report said consumers calling business conditions "good"
increased to 30.0 percent from 27.3 percent, while those saying
business conditions are "bad" remained virtually unchanged at 18.4
percent.
Consumers' assessment of the labor market was also more
favorable, with those claiming jobs were more "plentiful" rising to
26.0 percent from 23.0 percent, although those saying jobs are
"hard to get" also rose to 23.4 percent from 22.1 percent.
The Conference Board said the expectations index also improved
to 86.4 in August from 82.0 in July, as consumer optimism regarding
the short-term outlook picked up.
The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to
improve over the next six months rose to 17.3 percent from 15.7
percent, and those expecting business conditions to worsen fell to
11.1 percent from 12.4 percent.
Additionally, consumers expecting more jobs in the months ahead
edged up to 14.2 percent from 13.5 percent, while those
anticipating fewer jobs remained virtually unchanged at 17.5
percent.
The University of Michigan released a separate report last
Friday that unexpectedly showed a slight decline in consumer
sentiment in August.
The report said the final reading on the consumer sentiment
index for August came in at 89.8 compared to the initial estimate
of 90.4. With the downward revision, the consumer sentiment index
for August was below the final July reading of 90.0.
The downward revision came as a surprise to economists, who had
expected the index to be upwardly revised to a reading of 90.7.
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