Consumer Confidence Rebounds, but Still Somewhat Mixed

In December, consumer confidence rebounded to a reading of 96.5, compared to the consensus estimate from Bloomberg of 93.5, up from 92.6 in November. This current reading is also above the Econoday consensus of 93.5. The present situation index increased from 110.9 last month to 115.3 in December, while the expectations index improved to 83.9 from 80.4 in November.

Consumers that feel business conditions are “good” increased to 27.3% from 25.0%. However there is some bad with this news as well. Those saying business conditions are “bad” also increased, to 19.8% from 16.9%.

Perhaps one of the more important readings was the consumer sentiment toward the labor market, as it was more positive in December. Those claiming that jobs were “plentiful” increased to 24.1% from 21.0%, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” fell to 24.7% from 25.8%. Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead increased slightly to 12.9% from 12.0%, while those anticipating fewer jobs decreased from 18.5% to 16.6%.
[nativounit]
The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase declined from 17.3% to 16.3%. However, the proportion expecting a reduction in income decreased from 11.8% to 9.7%.

Consumers’ optimism about the short-term outlook was somewhat mixed. On the negative side, those expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months decreased slightly to 15.2% from 15.7%. Also those expecting business conditions to worsen increased slightly to 11.0% from 10.6%.