Consumer Sentiment Holds Strong in December

Keep in mind that this is still handily higher than the 75.1 final reading in November. The end of the government shutdown was the key driving force for such a serious jump in the reports month-over-month. With a budget deal seeming done and with Christmas spending looking strong, the markets were hoping for a slight uptick to what was already a strong number.

Stocks were still up Monday morning, but were off their highs. On last look, the S&P 500 Index was up 7.60 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 60 points.

As a reminder, the “sentiment” report from the University of Michigan is very different from the consumer confidence report from the Conference Board. Many of the outlooks and generalities are the same for directional information, but the sentiment report is based on far fewer responses.