Reuters/Michigan Sentiment… Americans Caring Less & Less About Euro Woes

A reading of sentiment in America from the University of Michigan is out this Friday, and frankly it may be indicating that perhaps Americans are just starting to care less and less about the woes coming out of Europe.  Maybe Americans even believe that the unemployment rate’s drop is more than just due to a lower rate of participation in the labor force.

The University of Michigan and Reuters have released the preliminary sentiment reading for December and the figure was presented as 67.7.  Bloomberg was expecting a reading of 66.0 and the November final data was at 64.1%.

The current index portion is shown as 77.9, while the expectations component is 61.1.  The 12-month inflation forecast was put at +3.1% and the 5-year inflation forecast was put at +2.7%.

Bloomberg notes, “Consumer sentiment is directly related to the strength of consumer spending. Consumer confidence and consumer sentiment are two ways of talking about consumer attitudes.” Keep in mind that the preliminary data is based upon surveys of 500 households each month and the preliminary data gets revised at the end of the month.

JON C. OGG