‘Overall, consumers anticipate the economy will continue expanding in the months ahead, but they do not foresee the pace of growth accelerating.’ — Lynn Franco, Conference Board
The mood of American shoppers rose unexpectedly this month, hitting a 16-year high. The Conference Board reported on Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index climbed to 118.9 in June, up from the preceding month’s 117.6 points, while analysts anticipated a slight drop to 116.1 during the reported month. The share of respondents who perceived business conditions as ‘good’ advanced to 30.8% from the prior month’s 29.8%, whereas the share of those who perceived business conditions as ‘bad’ dropped to 12.7%, down from May’s 13.9%. Furthermore, 32.8% of respondents said that jobs were ‘plentiful’, compared to the previous month’s 30%. Meanwhile, 18% said that jobs were ‘hard to get’, down from the previous month’s 18.3%. As to the short-term outlook, the share of those expecting to improve over the next six months fell to 20.4% from 21.5%. Nevertheless, the share of respondents expecting future business conditions to worsen declined to 9.9% in June from 10.3%. Tuesday’s data suggested that household consumption growth would likely accelerate in the upcoming months.
