Another Consumer Confidence Index Rockets Higher
The Conference Board's closely watched index on US Consumer confidence rocketed higher in the board's April reading released yesterday... For those of us following the more dynamic Rausmussen Index, the report came as no surprise...
The huge jump in the CB index follows the University of Michigan Index which also bounced up a few days ago... (charts for both)
The April gains were fueled by "a significant improvement in the short-term outlook," said Lynn Franco, director at the Conference Board Consumer Research Center.
The Conference Board "Present Situation Index" was also up to 23.7 from 21.9 last month.
But the perhaps the biggest news: The Expectations Index Exploded to 49.5 from 30.2 in March. The Conference Board which rarely uses superlatives, described this move up as "substantial." The expectation index is a sub-index that measures consumer's confidence concerning:
1) Their expected business conditions in the next six months
2) Their expected employment condition in the next six months
3) Their own total family income in the next six months.
With consumers signalling more and more willingness to spend, evidence continues to mount that a return to GDP growth by summer is now not just possible, but probable. You may recall that level-headed prediction given by a professor from Kansas back in November...