U.S. Consumer Confidence Jumped in December as Outlook Improves
December 20 2023 - 9:48AM
Dow Jones News
By Ed Frankl
U.S. consumer confidence climbed for the second-straight month
in December, as views of both current business conditions and the
future outlook brightened, amid lower expectations for interest
rate rises and inflation.
Private research group The Conference Board said Wednesday that
its consumer-confidence index climbed to 110.7 in December from a
downwardly revised 101.0 in November. Economists had expected the
index to be 104.5, according to a Wall Street Journal poll.
The improvement reflected more positive views of the current
economic conditions, as well as less pessimism about the next six
months, The Conference Board's Chief Economist, Dana Peterson,
said.
The component measuring the present situation rose to 148.5 from
136.5 in November, driven by more positive views of current
business and the employment. Meanwhile, the measure for the
expectations for the next half-year climbed to 85.6 from 77.4 in
the prior month, reflecting improved confidence about future
activity, job availability and incomes, The Conference Board
said.
It comes as consumer expectations that Federal Reserve interest
rates will rise in the year ahead tumbled, amid views that
inflation will continue to recede, according to the data.
Gains were largest among householders aged 35-54 and households
with income levels of $125,000 and above, Peterson said.
However, there remain concerns U.S. among consumers amid an
uncertain economic outlook. The top issue affecting consumers
remains rising prices, although politics, interest rates and global
conflicts were lesser concerns compared with last month, December's
write-in responses showed.
Expectations of a recession in the next year also ticked down to
the lowest level this year, albeit with two thirds of respondents
still perceiving a downturn is possible in 2024, Peterson
added.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 20, 2023 10:33 ET (15:33 GMT)
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