In a preview to clients, BNP Paribas economists said they expect confidence to remain upbeat despite the market volatility last month that was spurred, in part, by uncertainty about the global economy.
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American consumers were feeling more confident again this month, good news for the USA economy.
“Consumer confidence increased moderately in September, following August’s sharp rebound”.
“The unemployment rate is trending downward toward 5.0 percent, and more consumers are optimistic about the job market than pessimistic for the first time since before the Great Recession”, he said.
Consumers’ optimism about the short-term outlook was little changed in September.
The Present Situation Index jumped from 115.8 to 121.1 this month, while the Expectations Index edged down to 91.0 from 91.6 in August.
Previously, the consumer confidence report showed odd strength in August for a 10.5 point surge, boosted especially by unusual strength in the assessment of current job conditions.
The headline index rose to 103.0 in September, from a revised August reading of 101.3.
The figure, the highest since January, “suggests that lower gasoline prices trumped the fading impact from the financial market turmoil a month ago”, said Steve Murphy, economist with Capital Economics. “While consumers view current economic conditions more favorably, they do not foresee growth accelerating in the months ahead”. More than 25 per cent of Americans said jobs were plentiful, highest share since September 2007. The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased from 16.6% to 17.9%, but those expecting business conditions to worsen also increased – from 9.1% to 10.3%. The reason behind these less-than-favorable expectations was the huge market pullback that has been seen over the course of September.
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Those claiming jobs are “hard to get” also rose from 21.7 percent to 24.3 percent.
