U.S. Consumer Confidence Rose In August After Three Months of Decline

U.S. consumer confidence ticked up in August after three months of consecutive declines. The Conference Board found that its consumer confidence index was at 103.2 in August, up from 95.3 in July. This was ahead of expectations of 97.7 predicted by economists polled by Reuters. Overall, consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions and their short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions increased as well. Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, said in a statement that consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions — or “The Present Situation Index” — recorded an uptick for the first time since March. “Concerns about inflation continued their retreat but remained elevated,” Franco said. “Meanwhile, purchasing intentions increased after a July pullback, and vacation intentions reached an eight-month high. Looking ahead, August’s improvement in confidence may help support spending, but inflation and additional rate hikes still pose risks to economic growth in the short term.” Consumer prices, while up 8.5% in July from a year ago, have begun to show signs of cooling from a 40-year high of 9.1% in June. Energy prices fell 4.6% in July, while gasoline prices dipped 7.7%. This was offset by a 1.1%

Follow Footwear News on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

from Footwear NewsFootwear News https://ift.tt/DFEXP4i