U.S. Consumer Confidence Continues To Improve In November

(RTTNews) - After reporting a significant rebound by U.S. consumer confidence in the previous month, the Conference Board released a report on Tuesday showing consumer confidence continued to improve in November.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to 111.7 in November after surging to an upwardly revised 109.6 in October.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to climb to 112.3 from the 108.7 originally reported for the previous month.

"Consumer confidence continued to improve in November and reached the top of the range that has prevailed over the past two years," said Dana M. Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board.

She added, "November's increase was mainly driven by more positive consumer assessments of the present situation, particularly regarding the labor market."

The report said the present situation index, which is based on consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions, jumped to 140.9 in November from 136.1 in October.

The expectations index, which is based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, showed a more modest increase, inching up to 92.3 in November from 91.9 in October.

The Conference Board noted the expectations index is well above the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession ahead.

Last Friday, the University of Michigan released revised data showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. improved less than previously estimated in the month of November.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for November was downwardly revised to 71.8 from the preliminary reading of 73.0.

While the downward revision surprised economists, who had expected the reading to be upwardly revised to 73.7, the index is still above the final October reading of 70.5.

Despite the unexpected downward revision, the consumer sentiment index is also still at its highest level since hitting 77.2 in April.