NEW YORK, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference
Board Consumer Confidence Index® increased
in April, following a decline in March. The Index now stands at
128.7 (1985=100), up from 127.0 in March. The Present Situation
Index increased from 158.1 to 159.6, while the Expectations Index
improved from 106.2 last month to 108.1 this month.
The monthly Consumer Confidence
Survey®, based on a probability-design random
sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading
global provider of information and analytics around what consumers
buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was
April 12.
"Consumer confidence increased moderately in April after a
decline in March," said Lynn Franco,
Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board.
"Consumers' assessment of current conditions improved somewhat,
with consumers rating both business and labor market conditions
quite favorably. Consumers' short-term expectations also improved,
with the percent of consumers expecting their incomes to decline
over the coming months reaching its lowest level since December 2000 (6.0 percent). Overall, confidence
levels remain strong and suggest that the economy will continue
expanding at a solid pace in the months ahead."
Consumers' appraisal of current conditions improved modestly in
April. The percentage saying business conditions are "good"
decreased from 37.6 percent to 35.2 percent, however those claiming
business conditions are "bad" also decreased, from 13.3 percent to
11.3 percent. Consumers' assessment of the labor market was also
mixed. The percentage of consumers claiming jobs are "plentiful"
declined from 39.5 percent to 38.1 percent, while those claiming
jobs are "hard to get" also declined, from 15.7 percent to 15.2
percent.
Consumers were moderately more positive about the short-term
outlook in April. The percentage of consumers anticipating business
conditions will improve over the next six months increased from
23.2 percent to 24.5 percent, while those expecting business
conditions will worsen decreased from 10.2 percent to 9.7
percent.
Consumers' outlook for the labor market was also more positive.
The proportion expecting more jobs in the months ahead increased
from 18.9 percent to 19.5 percent, while those anticipating fewer
jobs remained at 12.5 percent. Regarding their short-term income
prospects, the percentage of consumers expecting an improvement was
virtually unchanged at 23.1 percent, while the proportion expecting
a decrease declined from 7.2 percent to 6.8 percent.
Source: April 2018 Consumer
Confidence Survey®
The Conference Board
The Conference Board publishes the Consumer Confidence
Index® at 10 a.m. ET on
the last Tuesday of every month. Subscription information and the
technical notes to this series are available on The Conference
Board website:
https://www.conference-board.org/data/consumerdata.cfm.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE BOARD
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working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide
the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they
need to improve their performance and better serve society. Winner
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www.conference-board.org
ABOUT NIELSEN
Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN)
is a global performance management company that provides a
comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and buy.
Nielsen's Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with
Total Audience measurement services for all devices on which
content — video, audio and text — is consumed. The Buy segment
offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the
industry's only global view of retail performance measurement. By
integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other
data sources, Nielsen also provides its clients with analytics that
help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has
operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90 percent of
the world's population. For more information,
visit www.nielsen.com.
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SOURCE The Conference Board