U.S. Consumer Confidence Rose in June--Update
June 27 2017 - 11:25AM
Dow Jones News
By Ben Leubsdorf
Americans became slightly more confident about the economy in
June.
The Conference Board on Tuesday said its index of U.S. consumer
confidence rose to 118.9 from a revised 117.6 in May. Economists
surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a decline to 116.0
in June.
The index in March had hit 124.9, its highest level since
December 2000, then declined in April and May before rebounding a
bit in June.
"Confidence is being supported by the low level of gasoline
prices, the record-breaking stock market and the continued strength
of labor-market conditions," Capital Economics U.S. economist
Andrew Hunter said in a note to clients.
The details of Tuesday's report were mixed. An index tracking
household attitudes about the present economic situation increased
to 146.3 in June -- its highest level since July 2001 -- from 140.6
the prior month. But the index tracking expectations about the
future fell to 100.6 this month from 102.3 in May, hitting its
lowest level since January.
"Overall, consumers anticipate the economy will continue
expanding in the months ahead, but they do not foresee the pace of
growth accelerating," said Lynn Franco, the Conference Board's
director of economic indicators.
Some 32.8% this month said jobs were plentiful, up from 30% in
May. Business conditions were described as good in June by 30.8%,
up from 29.8% the prior month. But fewer households this month said
they planned to buy an automobile or a house in the next six
months.
Gauges of household, business and investor sentiment jumped
after last year's presidential election and remain high, though
some measures have drifted lower in recent months. Despite strong
sentiment readings, growth in consumer spending and business
investment has remained modest so far this year as the Trump
administration and congressional Republicans discuss tax cuts and
other legislative priorities.
"I haven't seen very much evidence that, thus far, expectations
of policy changes have driven substantial changes in either
consumer spending or investment spending," Federal Reserve
Chairwoman Janet Yellen said this month. Many businesses, she said,
remain confident but "have a wait-and-see attitude."
In any case, the economic expansion that began in mid-2009
remains on track and the unemployment rate in May hit a 16-year low
of 4.3%. A separate gauge of U.S. consumer sentiment, produced by
the University of Michigan, fell in early June to 94.5 from 97.1 in
May. Richard Curtin, the Michigan survey's chief economist, said
sentiment had dropped sharply after former FBI director James
Comey's June 8 congressional testimony about his firing by
President Donald Trump.
A final Michigan reading for June will be released on Friday;
economists expect a slight further decline to 94.4.
Write to Ben Leubsdorf at ben.leubsdorf@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 27, 2017 11:10 ET (15:10 GMT)
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