Consumer confidence hits four year high

[Engineer]

Click me!

Interesting that confidence continues to rise in the face of rising gas/energy prices. People seem to have the will to buy anything and everything right now regardless of those rising prices. Interesting, to say the least.

NEW YORK - Consumers shrugged off higher gasoline prices in April and sent a widely watched barometer of consumer confidence to its highest level in almost four years, a private research group said Tuesday.


But the New York-based Conference Board warned that if fuel prices continue to rise, it would cast a pall on consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity.

The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index rose to 109.6, up from a revised 107.5 in March. April's reading was the highest since the index touched 110.3 in May 2002. Analysts had expected a reading of 106.4. Confidence has been on an upswing since November in the aftermath of the Gulf hurricanes, except for a sharp dip in February.

"Improving present-day conditions continue to boost consumers' spirits," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center in a statement. "Recent improvement in the labor market have been a major driver behind the rise in confidence in early 2006. Looking ahead, consumers are not as pessimistic as they were last month."

Franco added that expectations for the economy and labor market have been trending downward since peaking in 2003, however. She said that "while prices at the pump have yet to impact confidence, further increases could dampen consumers' mood."

 

[ECUHITMAN]

I guess they figure why not buy it now while we still can afford to buy it?

 

[jlmadyson]

One of the most interesting parts of this according to one analyst on CNBC was consumer confidence in the labor market. According to him, it was at its highest point since 2001. If people are filling new jobs and/or getting jobs with higher pay that could be one underlying reason as to why there is still high consumer confidence. Of course, if these prices stay high throughout the summer I seriously doubt it will continue to rise. However, if it does, it will say much in my opinion about the current state of the U.S. economy.

 

[techs]

"Trade deficit hits all time high"
"Budget Deficit hits all time high"
"Gas prices hit all time high"
"Uninsured Americans hits all time high"
"US government debt hits all time high"
"Health care costs hit all time high"

Just goes to show how stupid most Americans are when they see a budget deficited economy as a good economy.

 

[TGS]

I would like to know if they measure the amount of credit debt be allocated to current purchases. Along with the average credit card debt in recent years. I'm reading about record levels of bankruptcy in the past few years, combined with large amounts of credit card debt it seems to me that people have no issues spending money they don't have.

 

[EatSpam]

They're probably figuring that good times are coming to an end, so they might as well enjoy their credit while it lasts! Yeeeeeee-haw!

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: EatSpam
They're probably figuring that good times are coming to an end, so they might as well enjoy their credit while it lasts! Yeeeeeee-haw!

The good times are coming to an end? Hell, I didn't realize the last few years would be considered 'good times'. If you believe everything you read in P&N everyone is broke because everyone is jobless and the sky is falling tomorrow.