U.S. Consumer Sentiment Improves More Than Expected In December
Written on December 10, 2011 by Wiley Hayden
– U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of December has improved by more than anticipated, according to a report released by Reuters and the University of Michigan on Friday, with the consumer sentiment index rising to a six-month high.
The report showed that the consumer sentiment index rose to 67.7 in December from the final November reading of 64.1. Economists had been expecting the index to rise to 66.0.
With the bigger than expected increase, the consumer sentiment index rose to its highest level since coming in at 71.5 in June.
Miller Tabak’s Peter Boockvar said, “Its good timing to have an improvement in confidence as we are in holiday season, but whether the individuals called over the phone in this survey are watching the headlines out of Europe or not won’t be noted until 2012 when the recession there impacts us here.”
A notable improvement in consumer expectations contributed to the increase by the headline index, with the consumer expectations index jumping to 61.1 in December from 55.4 in November.
The current economic conditions index showed a more modest increase, edging up to 77.9 in December from 77.6 in November.
The report also showed that one-year inflation expectation dipped to 3.1 percent in December, while the five-year inflation outlook was unchanged at 2.7 percent.
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