Don't read too much into today's surprising consumer confidence report
REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi
According to the Conference Board's measure, the consumer confidence index jumped to 96.5 in December from 92.6 in November.
This was stronger than the 93.5 expected by economists.
It's important to not that this was a rebound from November's unexpectedly weak report. At the time economists were expecting a print of 99.5 in November, up from 99.1 in October.
"We should not read too much into the correction this month - it looks technical," BNP's Laura Rosner and Paul Mortimer-Lee said in an email blast. "It may be that the unusually seasonally warm weather is helping to boost confidence beyond what is assumed in the seasonal adjustment (e.g. less spending on utilities leaving more for the fun stuff) … Given that December's rise appears to be a correction and in light of possible weather effects, it is difficult to read too much into it."
Still, it's hard to say any of this was bad news.
"Consumer confidence improved in December, following a moderate decrease in November," The Conference Board's Lynn Franco said. "As 2015 draws to a close, consumers' assessment of the current state of the economy remains positive, particularly their assessment of the job market. Looking ahead to 2016, consumers are expecting little change in both business conditions and the labor market. Expectations regarding their financial outlook are mixed, but the optimists continue to outweigh the pessimists."
Among other things, the percentage of respondents anticipating more jobs in the months ahead increased to 12.9% from 12.0%.
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