The Conference Board said that consumer sentiment jumped strongly in August, rebounding from the sharp decline seen in July. Economists polled by MarketWatch had projected the index to rise to 94.zero.
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The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index bounced to 101.5 in August, surpassing estimates. The longer term expectations index elevated to 92.5 from 82.three.
Consumers’ outlook for the labor market was also more upbeat, with those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead climbing to 14.6% from 13.7% and those anticipating fewer jobs tumbling to 13.6% from 19.0%.
“The uncertainty expressed last month about the short-term outlook has dissipated and consumers are once again feeling optimistic about the near future”, she added. Those who said business conditions are “good” decreased marginally from 23.4 percent to 23.2 percent. Those claiming jobs are “hard to get” fell from 27.4% to 21.9%.
Consumers’ optimism about the short-term outlook also improved in August. Along those lines, the percent expecting an increase in income moving forward declined from 17.0 percent in July to 16.2 percent August. But the cutoff point for responses to the survey was August. 13, about one week before the stock market began a fall that resulted in yesterday’s “Black Monday” in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 588 points after a sell-off in response to a slowdown in the Chinese economy.
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Hopefully, the strong gains in consumer confidence translate into increased spending down the line – something that we would look for in upcoming releases. Those who viewed jobs as “plentiful” increased from 19.9 per cent in July to 21.9 per cent in August.
