While ‘Hope’ continues to fade (now at its lowest since Dec 2017), The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence inched higher thanks to a surge in confidence about the Current Situation to the highest since March 2001.
“Consumers’ assessment of present-day conditions improved, suggesting that economic growth is still strong. However, while expectations continue to reflect optimism in the short-term economic outlook, back-to-back declines suggest consumers do not foresee growth accelerating.”
So, the last time Americans were this excited about the current economic situation was at the peak of the DotCom bubble (and what just happened in the last week to America’s new dotcom bubble?).
Americans aged 35-54 saw confidence collapse (while the younger cohorts confidence soared)…
The wealthier cohort remained confident but the poorest cohort slumped to Jan 2018 lows…
Those claiming jobs are “plentiful” increased from 40.4 percent to 43.1 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” was virtually unchanged at 15.0 percent. Consumers’ outlook for the labor market was also mixed. The proportion expecting more jobs in the months ahead increased from 20.0 percent to 22.5 percent, but those anticipating fewer jobs also increased, from 13.1 percent to 15.7 percent. Regarding their short-term income prospects, the percentage of consumers expecting an improvement rose from 19.7 percent to 20.8 percent, but the proportion expecting a decrease also rose, from 7.9 percent to 9.2 percent.
Finally, those with plans to buy a home in the next 6 months collapsed to 2-year lows as confidence in a rising stock market tumbled once again…
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