Consumer confidence is soaring

consumer confidence

(REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz )

Consumers are feeling great.

The Conference Board's March reading came in at 101.3, crushing expectations and showing continued optimism from US consumers.

Expectations were for the reading to come in at 96.4, unchanged from 96.4 in February.

February's reading was also revised higher, to 98.8 from 96.4.

The lone downbeat part of the report was the assessment of current conditions from consumers, which retreated for the second straight month.

In a release, Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, said:

"Consumer confidence improved in March after retreating in February. This month’s increase was driven by an improved short-term outlook for both employment and income prospects; consumers were less upbeat about business conditions. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions declined for the second consecutive month, suggesting that growth may have softened in Q1, and doesn’t appear to be gaining any significant momentum heading into the spring months."

The Conference Board's latest report showed that consumers' assessment of present-day conditions was "moderately less favorable" for the second straight month, while the outlook for the labor market saw stronger gains.

The number of consumers expecting their incomes to rise jumped to 18.4% from 16.4% the number of consumers expecting a drop in income fell to 9.9% from 10.8%.

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