Consumer confidence made a strong showing in July, posting a 121.1 reading in the latest Consumer Confidence Index® from The Conference Board. The Expectations reading of the Index rose to 99.6, while the Present Situation reading rose to 147.8. June’s reading was 117.3.
“Consumer confidence increased in July following a marginal decline in June,” said Lynn Franco, director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, in a statement. “Consumers’ assessment of current conditions remained at a 16-year high and their expectations for the short-term outlook improved somewhat after cooling last month. Overall, consumers foresee the current economic expansion continuing well into the second half of this year.”
The percentage of consumers who believe business conditions are “good,” as defined by the Index, increased from 30.6 percent in June to 33.3 percent in July; the percentage of those who believe business conditions are “bad” stayed the same from June at 13.5 percent. The percentage of those who expect business conditions to improve increased from 20.1 percent in June to 22.9 percent in July; the percentage of those who expect business conditions to worsen decreased from 10.0 percent in June to 8.2 percent in July.
The percentage of consumers who believe jobs are “plentiful,” in addition, increased from 32.0 percent in June to 34.1 percent in July, according to the Index; the percentage of those who believe jobs are “hard to get” decreased from 18.4 percent in June to 18.0 percent in July. The percentage of those who expect more jobs in the coming months stayed the same from June at 19.2 percent; the percentage of those who expect less jobs in the coming months decreased from 14.6 percent in June to 13.3 percent in July.
The percentage of consumers who expect higher incomes decreased from 20.9 percent in June to 20.0 percent in July; the percentage of those who expect a decrease increased from 9.3 percent in June to 10.0 percent in July.
Source: The Conference Board
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