Consumers Feeling a Bit Better Globally But The Buts Abound

 

 

• by Thom Forbes, 10 hours ago 

Consumer confidence in the United States improved modestly through mid-May after having declined sharply in April and reversing a three-month slide, according to The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which is conducted by Nielsen.

 

The index of consumer attitudes rose to 95.4 from a downwardly revised 94.3 in April. Economists polled by Reuters expected slightly better results — 94.9 — according to a Reuters’ Daniel Bases. Those polled by the Wall Street Journal, however, “had forecast the latest index to be little changed at 95.0,” writes the WSJ’s Kathleen Madigan.

 

“This moderate firming in confidence is a positive, suggesting that consumers are looking beyond the soft first quarter and believe that conditions have stabilized,” Plante Moran Financial Advisors CFO Jim Baird wrote in a research note, Madigan reports.

The so-called Present Situation Index rose from 105.1 in April to 108.1. The boost was “propelled by a more positive assessment of the labor market,” according to Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board. But, she warned, “consumers still remain cautious about the short-term outlook.”

 

Indeed, the Expectations Index declined to 86.9 from 87.1 in April.

 

On the job front, “North Dakota is the only state in the country where the jobless rate was significantly higher in April than it was a year earlier, highlighting the impact of plunging oil prices in energy-rich states,” Kate Davidson reports for the Wall Street Journal. Still and all, it’s coming off a flush base, with only 3.1% of its residents unemployed, according to yesterday’s news release from the U.S. Labor Dept.’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

Overall, the national jobless rate was essentially unchanged from March at 5.4% and was 0.8% lower than in April 2014 with 23 states and the District of Columbia showing unemployment rate decreases from March, 11 states with increases, and 16 with no change. The largest over-the-month decrease in employment occurred in New York (minus 14,700). Forty-five states and D.C. had unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier; five states had increases. 

 

Consumers were generally feeling more chipper globally as well.