US Consumer Confidence up slightly in January
January 30, 2007
US consumer confidence was a bit higher in January, according to the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index. New data released Tuesday showed that the index was at 110.3 in January, up from a revised 110.0 in December. The reading was in line with expectations, which were pegged at between 110.0 and 110.5. The new reading was the highest the index has climbed in five years.
The director of the Board’s consumer research center said that the new, higher figure depended heavily on a better job market and warned that consumers are still concerned about economic conditions. The Present Situation Index, which measures how consumers feel about the state of the economy as it stands now, was up to 133.9 in January from 130.5 in December. However the Expectations Index, which allows consumers to voice how they feel about economic conditions in the next six months, dropped from 96.3 in December to 94.5 in January, showing that consumers are worried that current conditions will not hold.
Asked if they expect business conditions to get better or worse, 8 percent of respondents said they anticipated a worsening of conditions in the next six months, higher than the 7.8 percent of respondents in December who saw things getting worse. Those saying that they think business conditions to get better dropped from 16.7 percent in December to 16.2 percent in January. 19.8 percent of respondents said in the January survey that they expect their incomes to rise, down from 21.4 percent in December.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence index is based on a survey of 5,000 households.