Consumer confidence spikes in June

Walmart shopper

(Reuters)

Consumers are feeling great about the US economy.

The latest reading of the consumer confidence index came in at 101.4, crushing forecasts.

Economists had expected an index print from the Conference Board of 97.4 for June, up from 95.4 last month.

In the release, the Conference Board's Lynn Franco said: "Over the past two months, consumers have grown more confident about the current state of business and employment conditions. In addition, they are now more optimistic about the near-term future, although sentiment regarding income prospects is little changed."

The share of consumers judging business conditions as "good" climbed to 26.4% from 24.7% in the prior month. The portion of those saying conditions are "bad" was unchanged at 17.8%.

Consumers' views of the labor market are improving. Those expecting more jobs in the next few months increased to 17.8% from 14.7%, although, the share of people expecting higher wages was unchanged.

In a note after the release, Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson wrote, "in one line: Not quite back the peaks, but good enough."

Shepherdson also included the chart below, and wrote that it "shows that spending and confidence don’t always move closely together, but the underlying trends tend to be similar."

Confidence

(Pantheon Macroeconomics)

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