U.S. Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Continues To Improve In August

(RTTNews) - The Conference Board released a report on Tuesday unexpectedly showing a modest improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of August.

The report said the Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to 103.3 in August from an upwardly revised 101.9 in July.

The increase surprised economists, who had expected the consumer confidence index to edge down to 100.1 from the 100.3 originally reported for the previous month.

"Overall consumer confidence rose in August but remained within the narrow range that has prevailed over the past two years," said Dana M. Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board.

"Consumers continued to express mixed feelings in August," she added. "Compared to July, they were more positive about business conditions, both current and future, but also more concerned about the labor market."

The Conference Board also said the present situation index improved to 134.4 in August from 133.1 in July, while the expectations index ticked up to 82.5 in August 81.1 in July.

"Consumers were likely rattled by the financial market turmoil in early August, as they were less upbeat about the stock market," said Peterson. "August's write-in responses also included more mentions of stock prices and unemployment as affecting consumer's views of the US economy."

She continued, "However, consumers did not change their views about a possible recession: the proportion of consumers predicting a recession was stable and well below the 2023 peak."

On Friday, the University of Michigan is scheduled to release its revised reading on consumer sentiment in the month of August.

The consumer sentiment index for August is expected to be upwardly revised to 68.0 from the preliminary reading of 67.8, which was up from 66.4 in July.