Consumers were a little more upbeat in September, although their outlook for the next six months essentially didn’t budge from last month.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose slightly to 103 from 101.3 last month. That’s on top of the increase in August. Of the two components, the Present Situation Index jumped to 121.1 from 115.8 in August, while the Expectations Index, the part that measures short-term outlook, dipped slightly to 91.0 from 91.6 last month.
Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the The Conference Board, said, “Consumers’ more positive assessment of current conditions fueled this month’s increase, and drove the Present Situation Index to an eight-year high.” The last time the Index hit in the 121 range was in September 2007 when it was 121.2.
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As for the outlook six months out, Franco said, “Consumers’ expectations for the short-term outlook, however, remained relatively flat, although there was a modest improvement in income expectations. Thus, while consumers view current economic conditions more favorably, they do not foresee growth accelerating in the months ahead.”
Of the consumers that appraised current conditions in the current survey, those who said business conditions were “good” rose to 28 percent from 23.7 percent. Those who said conditions were “bad” slipped to 16.7 percent from 17.8 percent. On the jobs front, while consumers felt that jobs were “plentiful,” up to 25.1 percent from 22.1 percent, they also said jobs are “hard to get,” up to 24.3 percent from 21.7 percent.
Looking ahead, there was little change from last month. While the percentage of those who said that they expect business conditions to improve went up — 17.9 percent from 16.6 percent — the percentage of those who expect conditions to worsen also increased — 10.3 percent from 9.1 percent.
Overall, consumers’ outlook for the labor market was mixed. At 15 percent, the percentage of those who anticipate more jobs was unchanged from August. But the percentage of those who expect fewer jobs also saw an increase, this time to 15.8 percent from 14.5 percent. Still, despite the mixed outlook on the labor front, most consumers in the survey said they expect their incomes to improve. Those who said their incomes would increase rose to 19.1 percent from 16.2 percent in August, while those who said they expect a decline inched up to 10.1 percent from 9.8 percent.
The cutoff date for the survey’s preliminary results was Sept. 17.