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CONSUMER CONFIDENCE SURGES 10 POINTS IN NOV
| The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 91.7 (1985=100), up 10 points from 81.7 in October, according to a recent report. The Present Situation Index increased to 80.1 from 67.0 and Expectations Index rose to 99.4 from 91.5. "Consumer confidence is now at its highest level since the fall of 2002," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "The improvement in the Present Situation Index, especially in the jobs component, suggests that consumers believe a slow but sure labor market turnaround is underway. The rise in expectations is a signal that consumers will end this year much more upbeat than when the year began." Consumers' assessment of current business conditions improved in November, with those saying jobs are "hard to get" declining to 29.5 percent from 33.7 percent. Consumers' appraisal of current business conditions also improved, with those rating conditions as "good" increasing to 19.9 percent from 17.1 percent. Consumers' short-term outlook continues to improve. Those anticipating business conditions to pick up over the next six months rose to 24.1 percent from 23.5 percent. Consumers expecting the opposite to happen declined to 7.1 percent from 11.0 percent. The employment outlook was mixed, according to the report, with the percentage of consumers anticipating more jobs to become available in the next six months declining to 18.2 percent from 19.6 percent while those expecting fewer jobs to become available decreased to 17.6 percent from 20.4 percent. |