Consumer confidence in the United States recorded a further increase in November, but less than expected by the markets, in particular due to an increase in Americans’ optimism regarding the job market.
The index measuring this confidence increased to 111.7 points, compared to 100.6 points a month earlier – data revised slightly upward -, according to the monthly survey from the Conference Board published Tuesday.
The increase is, however, less strong than anticipated by analysts, who hoped to see the index reach 113 points, according to the consensus published by briefing.com.
The index 100 corresponds to the confidence level of 1985.
“Consumer confidence has continued to increase and reached the high limit observed over the last two years,” underlined the chief economist of the Conference Board, Dana Peterson, quoted in the press release.
In particular, “the increase is driven by a more positive consumer sentiment on the current economic situation, particularly regarding the job market,” she added.
Consumers are indeed particularly optimistic about the possibility of finding a new job or changing jobs easily in the short term.
Furthermore, “the proportion of consumers anticipating a recession in the next twelve months decreased in November, reaching its lowest level since we started asking this question, in November 2022,” underlined Ms. Peterson.
The effect of the presidential election, which was held on November 5 and saw the victory of the Republican candidate, and former president, Donald Trump, was also positive, with optimism regarding future policies higher than that observed after the 2020 election, but below that measured the day after Mr. Trump’s first election, in 2016.
From a demographic point of view, confidence has improved significantly among those under 35 while it shows a slight decline compared to October among consumers aged 35 to 54.
Likewise, it has progressed for all deciles (all brackets representing 1/10th of the population), in terms of income, except for the highest and lowest incomes.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / awp / afp
