Consumer Confidence: Rebound Led By Expectations

Bottom Line:  The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose more than expected in December as consumers' expectations for 2022 improved notably. Despite continued price increases and the emergence of the Omicron variant, consumers'  short-term outlooks for income, business, and labor market conditions improved. After hitting a 13-month high, the index measuring consumers' concerns about inflation fell in December. Overall, consumer confidence was just good enough to keep consumption growth moderate to robust heading into the omicron variant. And so far, consumer activity looks likely to prove resilient.Consumer Confidence ROSE by 3.9 points in December to 115.8, compared with market expectations for a decline to 111.0. The index is now 33.0% ABOVE its year-ago level.

Present Situation Index FELL by 0.3 points to 144.1. The index is 65.3% ABOVE its year-ago level.
 
The Expectations Index ROSE by 6.7 points to 96.9.  The index is 11.4% ABOVE its year-ago level.The labor differential, the percentage of respondents who said jobs are “plentiful” from the percentage who said jobs are “hard to get” , moved lower by 2.1 points to 42.6.