Consumer Confidence in U.S. Increases to Four-Year High [View all]
Source: Bloomberg
By Shobhana Chandra - Nov 27, 2012 10:14 AM ET
Consumer confidence rose in November to the highest level in more than four years, a sign U.S. household spending will keep growing.
The Conference Board’s confidence index climbed to 73.7, the highest since February 2008, from a revised 73.1 reading the prior month, figures from the New York-based private research group showed today. The median forecast of 75 economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected a reading of 73.
The report showed the share of Americans planning to buy a house rose to a record high, indicating improving property values and a job market recovery are making households more willing to make long-term commitments. Sustained gains in consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy, may help overcome concern over the fiscal cliff of tax increases and government spending cuts slated for early 2013.
“The consumer is in a better place than several years ago,” Michael Gapen, a New York-based senior U.S. economist at Barclays Plc, said before the report. “A lot of the numbers are improving, where it is household balance sheets or the state of the housing market or employment.’”
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-27/consumer-confidence-in-u-s-climbs-to-more-than-four-year-high.html
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