Consumer confidence at highest level since 2000
There is good news for retailers as they head into their most important selling season.
Americans are the most confident that they have been in nearly 17 years, according to The Conference Board, whose consumer confidence index hit 125.9 in October, up from a revised 120.6 in September. The October metric is the highest recorded since December 2000, when it was 128.6.
With unemployment at a 16-year low of 4.2%, a healthy job market contributed to the positive sentiment. According to the survey, the percentage of consumers who said jobs are "plentiful" increased to 36.3% (from 32.7% in September), the most since June 2001. The number people who said jobs were hard to get inched down from 18% to 17.5%.
“Confidence remains high among consumers, and their expectations suggest the economy will continue expanding at a solid pace for the remainder of the year,” stated Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board. "Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved, boosted by the job market which had not received such favorable ratings since the summer of 2001. Consumers were also considerably more upbeat about the short-term outlook, with the prospect of improving business conditions as the primary driver."
The percentage of people saying business conditions are “good” increased from 33.4% to 34.5%, while those saying business conditions are “bad” rose marginally from 13.2% to 13.5%.
Americans are the most confident that they have been in nearly 17 years, according to The Conference Board, whose consumer confidence index hit 125.9 in October, up from a revised 120.6 in September. The October metric is the highest recorded since December 2000, when it was 128.6.
With unemployment at a 16-year low of 4.2%, a healthy job market contributed to the positive sentiment. According to the survey, the percentage of consumers who said jobs are "plentiful" increased to 36.3% (from 32.7% in September), the most since June 2001. The number people who said jobs were hard to get inched down from 18% to 17.5%.
“Confidence remains high among consumers, and their expectations suggest the economy will continue expanding at a solid pace for the remainder of the year,” stated Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board. "Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved, boosted by the job market which had not received such favorable ratings since the summer of 2001. Consumers were also considerably more upbeat about the short-term outlook, with the prospect of improving business conditions as the primary driver."
The percentage of people saying business conditions are “good” increased from 33.4% to 34.5%, while those saying business conditions are “bad” rose marginally from 13.2% to 13.5%.