Consumer Sentiment in U.S. Climbs to Four-Year High: Economy |
| San Francisco Chronicle - May 11, 2012 |
Consumer confidence rose in May to the highest level in four years, led by gains among upper-income Americans that may contribute to a pickup in spending on expensive items like furniture and appliances.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary sentiment index for May climbed to 77.8, the highest since January 2008, from 76.4 the prior month. The gauge was projected to drop to 76, according to the median forecast of 68 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. For the first time since monthly data began in 1978, it advanced for a ninth-straight time.
Stocks rose after the report, reversing earlier losses, as the unexpected gain in confidence signaled consumer purchases, which account for 70 percent of the economy, can keep expanding after growing at the fastest pace in more than a year. A jobless rate that has dropped to the lowest level in three years and a housing market that shows signs of stabilizing may be helping lift Americans' spirits.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/05/11/bloomberg_articlesM3V2PW0D9L3501-M3V9U.DTL#ixzz1uaFWU69u
Read Full Article from San Francisco Chronicle
- Posted: 2012-05-11 12:18:43
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