The Conference Board released a report on Wednesday showing U.S. consumer confidence improved by much more than expected in the month of December. <\/p>\n
The report showed the consumer confidence index climbed to 115.8 in December from an upwardly revised 111.9 in November. <\/p>\n
Economists had been expecting the consumer confidence index to inch up to 110.7 from the 109.5 originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
The bigger than expected increase by the headline index reflected an improvement in consumer expectations, with the expectations index advancing to 96.9 in December from 90.2 in November.<\/p>\n
The Conference Board said the percent of consumers expecting business<\/span> conditions to improve rose to 26.7 percent from 25.6 percent, while those expecting conditions to worsen fell to 17.9 percent from 19.6 percent.<\/p>\n Consumers were also more optimistic about the short-term labor market outlook but slightly less positive about their short-term financial prospects.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the report showed the present situation index edged down to 144.1 in December from 144.4 in November but remained at an elevated level.<\/p>\n While consumers’ appraisal of current business conditions was more favorable in December, their assessment of the labor market was moderately less favorable.<\/p>\n “Concerns about inflation declined after hitting a 13-year high last month as did concerns about COVID-19, despite reports of continued price increases and the emergence of the Omicron variant,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board.<\/p>\n She added, “Looking ahead to 2022, both confidence and consumer spending will continue to face headwinds from rising prices and an expected winter surge of the pandemic.”<\/p>\n On Thursday, the University of Michigan is scheduled to release its revised reading on consumer sentiment in December.<\/p>\n The consumer sentiment index for December is expected to be unrevised from the preliminary reading of 70.4, which was up from 67.4 in November. <\/p>\n