US Conference Board Consumer Confidence rose from 101.4 to 108.3 in December. Present Situation Index rose from 138.3 to 147.2. Expectations Index rose from 76.7 to 82.4.
“Consumer confidence bounced back in December, reversing consecutive declines in October and November to reach its highest level since April 2022,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board.
“The Present Situation and Expectations Indexes improved due to consumers’ more favorable view regarding the economy and jobs. Inflation expectations retreated in December to their lowest level since September 2021, with recent declines in gas prices a major impetus. Vacation intentions improved but plans to purchase homes and big-ticket appliances cooled further. This shift in consumers’ preference from big-ticket items to services will continue in 2023, as will headwinds from inflation and interest rate hikes.”
Fed Kashkari: We are moving at an appropriately aggressive pace
Minneapolis Fed Bank President Neel Kashkari said yesterday, “We are moving very aggressively. There’s a lot of tightening in the pipeline. We are committed to restoring price stability but we also recognize given these lags there is a risk of overdoing it.”
“We are committed to restoring price stability, but we also recognize, given these lags, there is the risk of overdoing it on the front end, and so I think we are moving at an appropriately aggressive pace,” he said.
“The economy is sending us a lot of mixed signals right now,” Kashkari said. “We need to keep tightening policy until we see some compelling evidence that core inflation is actually having peaked and is on its way down,”
“And then I think we need to sit there and we need to pause and wait and let the tightening work its way through the economy to see at that point, have we done enough?”